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Title: The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))
Author: McGee, W J
Language: English
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THE SERI INDIANS
BY
W J McGEE
Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-96, Government Printing
Office, Washington, 1898, pages 1—344*
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 9
Salient features 9
Recent explorations and surveys 12
Acknowledgments 20
Habitat 22
Location and area 22
Physical characteristics 22
Flora 31
Fauna 36
Local features 39
Summary history 51
Tribal features 123
Definition and nomenclature 123
External relations 130
Population 134
Somatic characters 136
Demotic characters 164
Symbolism and decoration 164
Face-painting 164
Decoration in general 169
The significance of decoration 176
Industries and industrial products 180
Food and food-getting 180
Navigation 215
Habitations 221
Appareling 224
Tools and their uses 232
Warfare 254
Nascent industrial development 265
Social organization 269
Clans and totems 269
Chiefship 275
Adoption 277
Marriage 279
Mortuary customs 287
Serial place of Seri socialry 293
Language 296
Comparative lexicology
Index
Footnotes
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
Plate I. Seriland 9
II. Pascual Encinas, conqueror of the Seri 13
III_a_. Seri frontier 40
III_b_. Sierra Seri, from Encinas desert 40
IV_a_. Sierra Seri, from Tiburon island 42
IV_b_. Punta Ygnacio, Tiburon bay 42
V_a_. Western shore of Tiburon bay 44
V_b_. Eastern shore of Tiburon bay 44
VI_a_. Recently occupied rancheria, Tiburon island 80
VI_b_. Typical house interior, Tiburon island 80
VII_a_. House framework, Tiburon island 110
VII_b_. House covering, Tiburon island 110
VIII. Sponge used for house covering, Tiburon island 112
IX_a_. House skeleton, Tiburon island 114
IX_b_. Interior house structure, Tiburon island 114
X. Typical Seri house on the frontier 117
XI. Occupied rancheria on the frontier 119
XII. Group of Seri Indians on trading excursion 121
XIII. Group of Seri Indians on the frontier 137
XIV. Seri family group 139
XV. Seri mother and child 142
XVI. Group of Seri boys 144
XVII. Mashém, Seri interpreter 146
XVIII. “Juana Maria”, Seri elderwoman 150
XIX. Typical Seri warrior 154
XX. Typical Seri matron 156
XXI. Seri runner 158
XXII. Seri matron 160
XXIII. Youthful Seri warrior 162
XXIV. Seri belle 164
XXV. Seri maiden 166
XXVI. Characteristic face-painting 168
XXVII. Face-painting paraphernalia 170
XXVIII. Seri archer at rest 200
XXIX. Seri archer at attention 202
XXX. Seri bow, arrow, and quiver 204
XXXI. Seri balsa in the National Museum 217
XXXII. Painted olla, with olla ring (Museum number 155373) 222
XXXIII. Plain olla (Museum number 155373) 226
XXXIV. Domestic anvil, side (Museum number 178858) 234
XXXV. Domestic anvil, top (Museum number 178858) 234
XXXVI. Domestic anvil, bottom (Museum number 178858) 234
XXXVII. Domestic anvil (reduced), top and side (Museum number
178838) 237
XXXVIII. Metate (reduced), top and edge (Museum number 178839) 237
XXXIX. Long-used metate (reduced), top (Museum number 178840) 238
XL. Long-used metate (reduced), bottom (Museum number
178840) 238
XLI. Natural pebble bearing slight marks of use (Museum
number 178841) 240
XLII. Natural pebble used as bone-crusher (Museum number
178842) 240
XLIII. Little-worn pebble used for all domestic purposes
(Museum number 174570) 243
XLIV. Natural pebble used as crusher and grinder
(Museum number 178843) 243
XLV. Natural pebble slightly used as hammer and anvil
(Museum number 178844) 244
XLVI. Natural pebble slightly used as grinder
(Museum number 178845) 247
XLVII. Natural pebble slightly used as domestic implement
(Museum number 178846) 247
XLVIII. Natural pebble slightly worn by use
(Museum number 178847) 249
XLIX. Natural pebble considerably worn in use as grinder
(Museum number 178848) 249
L. Natural pebble considerably worn as cutter and grinder
(Museum number 178849) 251
LI. Natural pebble considerably used as hammer, grinder,
and anvil (top and edge) (Museum number 178850) 253
LII. Natural pebble considerably used as hammer, grinder,
and anvil (bottom and edge) (Museum number 178850) 253
LIII. Hammer and grinder (Museum number 178851) 255
LIV. Implement shaped by use
(Museum number 178853) 255
LV. Implement perfected by use (Museum number 178853) 257
LVI. Perfected implement found in use (Museum number 178854) 259
Figure 1. Nomenclatural map of Seriland 16
2. Gateway to Seriland—gorge of Rio Bacuache 27
3. Tinaja Anita 29
4. Beyond Encinas desert—the saguesa 33
5. Embarking on Bahia Kunkaak in la lancha _Anita_ 48
6. Anterior and left lateral aspect of Seri cranium 142
7. Snake-skin belt 170
8. Dried flower necklace 171
9. Seed necklace 172
10. Nut pendants 172
11. Shell beads 172
12. Wooden beads 172
13. Necklace of wooden beads 173
14. Rattlesnake necklace 174
15. Seri olla ring 184
16. Water-bearer’s yoke 184
17. Symbolic mortuary olla 185
18. Symbolic mortuary dish 185
19. Shell-cup 186
20. Turtle-harpoon 187
21. Fish-spearhead 193
22. African archery posture 202
23. Desiccated pork 205
24. Seri basket 208
25. Scatophagic supplies 213
26. Seri marlinspikes 217
27. The balsa afloat 218
28. Seri balsa as seen by _Narragansett_ party 219
29. Seri hairbrush 226
30. Seri cradle 226
31. Hair spindle 227
32. Human-hair cord 228
33. Horsehair cord 228
34. Mesquite-fiber rope 229
35. Bone awl 230
36. Wooden awls 230
37. Seri arrowheads 246
38. Diagrammatic outline of industrial development 253
39. Mortuary olla 289
40. Woman’s fetishes 290
41. Food for the long journey. 291
42. Mortuary cup 291
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. I
SERILAND]
THE SERI INDIANS
By W J MCGEE
INTRODUCTION
SALIENT FEATURES
Something has been known of the Seri Indians (Seris, Ceris, Ceres,
Heris, Tiburones) since the time of Coronado, yet they remain one
of the least-studied tribes of North America. The first systematic
investigation of the tribe was made in the course of expeditions by the
Bureau of American Ethnology in 1894 and 1895; it was far from complete.
The Seri Indians are a distinctive tribe in habits, customs, and
language, inhabiting Tiburon island in Gulf of California and a limited
adjacent area on the mainland of Sonora (Mexico). They call themselves
_Kun-kaak_ or _Kmike_: their common appellation is from the Opata, and
may be translated “spry”. Their habitat is arid and rugged, consisting
chiefly of desert sands and naked mountain rocks, with permanent fresh
water in only two or three places; it is barred from settled Sonora by
a nearly impassable desert. Two centuries ago the population of the
tribe was estimated at several thousands, but it has been gradually
reduced by almost constant warfare to barely three hundred and fifty,
of whom not more than seventy-five are adult males, or warriors.
The Seri men and women are of splendid physique; they have fine chests,
with slender but sinewy limbs, though the hands and especially the feet
are large; their heads, while small in relation to stature, approach
the average in size; the hair is luxuriant and coarse, ranging from
typical black to tawny in color, and is worn long. They are notably
vigorous in movement, erect in carriage, and remarkable for fleetness
and endurance.
The Seri subsist chiefly on turtles, fish, mollusks, water-fowl, and
other food of the sea; they also take land game, and consume cactus
fruits, mesquite beans, and a few other vegetal products of their
sterile domain. Most of their food is eaten raw. They neither plant
nor cultivate, and are without domestic animals, save dogs which are
largely of coyote blood.
The habitations of the Seri are flimsy bowers of cactus and shrubbery,
sometimes shingled rudely with turtle-shells and sponges; in some
cases these are in clusters pertaining to matronymic family groups;
in other cases they are isolated, and are then often abandoned and
reoccupied repeatedly, and are apparently common property of the tribe.
The habitations afford some protection from sun and wind, but not from
cold and wet, which are hardly known in winterless and nearly rainless
Seriland.
The Seri clothing consists essentially of a kilt or skirt extending
from waist to knees; sometimes a pelican-skin robe is worn as a blanket
or mantle, and used also as bedding; the head and feet, as well as
the bust and arms, are habitually bare, though a loose-sleeved wammus
reaching not quite to the waist is sometimes worn. These garments were
formerly woven of coarse threads or cords made from native vegetal
fibers; the belt is generally of twisted human hair, of horse hair, of
dressed deerskin, or of snake skin; the robe consists of four, six, or
eight pelican skins sewed together with sinew. The pelican-skin robes
are still used, though the aboriginal fabric is commonly replaced by
cotton stuffs obtained through barter or plunder. Cords of human hair
and skins of serpents are used for necklaces.
The sports and games of the Seri Indians include racing and dancing,
and there are ceremonial dances at the girls’ puberty feasts,
accompanying the rude music of improvised drums. Decoration is
ordinarily limited to symbolic face-painting, which is seen especially
among the females, and to crude ornamentation of the scanty apparel.
A peculiar pottery is manufactured, and the pieces are sometimes
decorated with simple designs in plain colors.
The bow and arrow are habitually used, especially in warfare, and
turtles and fish are taken by means of harpoons, shafted with cane and
usually tipped with bone, charred wood, or flotsam metal. The arrows
are sometimes provided with chipped stone points, though the art of
chipping seems to be accultural and shamanistic. The ordinary stone
implements are used for crushing bone and severing sinew or flesh,
and also for mulling seeds and other food substances; they are mere
cobbles, selected for fitness, and retained only if their fitness is
increased by the wear of use, after the manner of protolithic culture.
Graceful balsas are made from canes, bound together with mesquite-fiber
cords; and on these the people freely navigate the narrow but stormy
strait separating Tiburon and the neighboring islets from the mainland.
They make a distinctive pottery, which is remarkably light and fragile.
Its chief use is carrying water to habitations (always located miles
from the spring or tinaja) or on desultory wanderings. Shells are used
for cups, and to some extent for implements. They have a few baskets,
which are not greatly different from those made by neighboring tribes.
The modern Seri are loosely organized in a number of maternal groups
or clans, which are notable for the prominence given to mother-right
in marriage and for some other customs; and there are indications
that the clan organization was more definite before the tribe was so
greatly reduced. The leading clans are those of the Pelican, the chief
tribal tutelary, and the Turtle, a minor tutelary. At present polygyny
prevails, professedly and evidently because of the preponderance of
females due to the decimation of warriors in battle; but both custom
and tradition tell of former monogamy, with a suggestion of polyandry.
The primary marriage is negotiated between the mothers of the would-be
groom and the prospective bride; if the mother and daughter in the
latter family look with favor on the proposal, the candidate is
subjected to rigorous tests of material and moral character; and if
these are successfully passed the marriage is considered complete,
and the husband becomes a privileged and permanent guest in the
wife’s household. Family feeling, especially maternal affection, is
strong; but petty dissensions are common save when internal peace is
constrained by external strife. The strongest tribal characteristic
is implacable animosity toward aliens, whether Indian or Caucasian;
certainly for three and a half centuries, and probably for many more,
the Seri have been almost constantly on the warpath against one alien
group or another, and have successfully stayed Spanish, Mexican, and
American invasion. In their estimation the brightest virtue is the
shedding of alien blood, while the blackest crime in their calendar is
alien conjugal union.
The Seri vocabulary is meager and essentially local; the kinship terms
are strikingly scanty, and there are fairly full designations for
food materials and other local things, while abstract terms are few.
Two or three recorded vocables seem to resemble those of the Yuman
languages, while the numerals and all other known terms are distinct.
The grammatic construction of Seri speech appears not to differ greatly
from that of other tongues of Sonora and Arizona; it is highly complex
and associative. The speech is fairly euphonious, much more so than
that of the neighboring Papago and Yaqui Indians.
The Seri Indians appear to recognize a wide variety of mystical
potencies and a number of zoic deities, all of rather limited powers.
The Pelican, Turtle, Moon, and Sun seem to lead their thearchy.
Creation is ascribed to the Ancient of Pelicans—a mythical bird of
marvelous wisdom and melodious song—who first raised Isla Tassne,
and afterward Tiburon and the rest of the world, above the primeval
waters. Individual fetishes are used, and there is some annual ceremony
at the time of ripening of cactus fruits, and certain observances at
the time of the new moon. The most conspicuous ceremony is the girls’
puberty feast. The dead are clothed in their finest raiment, folded
and fastened in small compass like Peruvian mummies, placed in shallow
graves, and covered with turtle-shells, when the graves are filled with
earth and heaped with stones or thorny brambles for protection against
beasts of prey. Fetishes, weapons, and other personal belongings are
buried with the body, as well as a dish of food and an olla of water,
and there are curious customs connected with the place of sepulture.
There is a weird, formal mourning for dead matrons, and suggestions of
fear of or veneration for the manes.
Seriland is surrounded with prehistoric works, telling of a numerous
population who successfully controlled the scant waters for irrigation,
built villages and temples and fortresses, cultivated crops, kept
domestic animals, and manufactured superior fictile and textile wares;
but (save possibly in one spot) these records of aboriginal culture
cease at the borders of Seriland. In their stead a few slightly worn
pebbles and bits of pottery are found here and there, deeply embedded
in the soil and weathered as by the suns of ages. There are also a few
cairns of cobbles marking the burial places, and at least one cobble
mound of striking dimensions but of unknown meaning; and there are
a few shell-mounds, one so broad and high as to form a cape in the
slowly transgressing shoreline (Punta Antigualla), and in which the
protolithic implements and other relics are alike from the house-dotted
surface to the tide level, 90 feet below.
The absence of relics of a superior culture, and the presence of Seri
relics throughout deposits of high antiquity, suggest that the tribe
is indigenous to Seriland; and this indication harmonizes with the
peculiar isolation of the territory, the lowly culture and warlike
habits of the people, the essentially distinct language, the singular
marriage custom, and the local character of the beast-gods. And all
these features combine to mark the Seri as children of the soil, or
autochthones.
RECENT EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS
Present knowledge of Seriland and its inhabitants is based primarily
on the work of two expeditions by the Bureau of American Ethnology,
conducted in 1894 and 1895, respectively; and, secondarily, on
researches into the cartography and literature (descriptive,
historical, and scientific) of the region. Both of the expeditions
were projected largely for the purpose of making collections among
little-known native tribes in the interests of the National Museum, and
the general ethnologic inquiries were ancillary to this purpose.
The 1894 expedition was directed chiefly toward work among the Papago
Indians in the vaguely defined territory known as Papagueria, lying
south of Gila river and west of the Sierra Madre in southwestern
Arizona and western Sonora (Mexico). Outfitting at Tucson early
in October, the party moved southward, visiting the known Papago
rancherias and seeking others, and thus defining the eastern limits
of the Papago country. On the approach to the southern limits of the
tribal range toward Rio Sonora, the evil repute of the Seri Indians
sounded larger and larger, suggesting the desirability of scientific
study of the tribe; and it was decided to attempt investigation.
Accordingly the party was reorganized at Hermosillo, and, with the
sanction of the Secretary of State and Acting Governor, Señor Don Ramón
Corral, proceeded to Rancho San Francisco de Costa Rica, where a
temporary Seri rancheria was found occupied by about sixty of the
tribe, including subchief Mashém, who speaks Spanish. In this part of
the work the expedition was accompanied by Señor Pascual Encinas, the
owner of the rancho visited, and doubtless the best informed white
man concerning the habits, customs, personnel, and habitat of the
tribe. About a week was spent in intercourse with the occupants of
the rancheria, when the studies were brought to an end through the
illness of Señor Encinas, and the consequent necessity for return to
Hermosillo. The expedition then proceeded northwestward and northward
along a route so laid as to define the western limits of Papagueria
proper, and reached Tucson near the end of the year. In addition to the
leader, the party comprised Mr William Dinwiddie, photographer; José
Lewis, Papago interpreter, and E. P. Cunningham, teamster. The outfit
was furnished chiefly by Mr J. M. Berger, of San Xavier (near Tucson).
On the visit to the Seri frontier the party was accompanied by Señor
Encinas, Don Arturo Alvemar-Leon (who acted as Spanish interpreter),
and two or three attachés of Molino del Encinas.[1]
[1] The more noteworthy details of the organization and work of the
two expeditions are set forth in the administrative reports of the
Bureau for the fiscal years 1894-95 and 1895-96. Certain members of
this party are shown in the accompanying half-tone, forming plate II:
Señor Encinas seated at the end of the table; his son, Don Manuel
(bareheaded), and Don Ygnacio Lozania at his right; a grandson behind
him, and Señor Alvemar-Leon seated at his left, with Mashém kneeling
over the table in the foreground.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. II
PASCUAL ENCINAS, CONQUEROR OF THE SERI]
The second expedition was directed primarily toward investigation of
the Seri, and only incidentally to continuation of the researches among
the Papago. Outfitting at Tucson in October (again with the aid of Mr
Berger), the expedition proceeded southward by a route different from
those previously traversed, and carried forward a plane-table route
survey covering a considerable zone from the international boundary
at Sasabe to Rio Sonora. Descending the previously unmapped course of
Rio Bacuache, the expedition reached the Rancho de San Francisco de
Costa Rica on December 1, 1895, and, although conditions were found
unfavorable in that the Seri were on the warpath, immediately prepared
for the extension of the work into Seriland.
A preliminary trip was made into the mainland portion of the Seri
habitat, terminating at the crest of Johnson peak, the highest point
in Sierra Seri. The triangulation and topographic surveys were carried
over the territory traversed, and several points were fixed on Isla
Tiburon; but the natives, agitated by a skirmish with vaqueros on the
frontier a day or two earlier, had withdrawn to remoter parts of the
territory, and were not encountered. The party returned to Costa Rica,
a rude boat was completed, transported across the desert via Pozo
Escalante to Embarcadero Andrade, and launched in Bahia Kunkaak. The
surveys were extended to the southern portion of Sierra Seri and Isla
Tassne, and, after various difficulties and delays due to dearth of
fresh water, to gales, and to other causes, the party (enlarged for the
purpose) finally landed on Tiburon. Many Seri rancherias were found
on both sides of Bahia Kunkaak and El Infiernillo. Some of these had
been occupied almost to the hour of the visit, but the occupants had
taken flight, leaving most of their unattached possessions behind, and
were not seen, though it was evident that, like wary birds and game
animals, they kept the invaders in sight from points of vantage and
hidden lairs. The eastern scarps and foot-slopes of Sierra Kunkaak
were traversed extensively and repeatedly; its crest was crossed by Mr
Johnson with a small party at a point west of Punta Narragansett, and
the triangulation and topographic sketching were connected with the
work on the mainland and carried over practically the entire surface
of the island, being tied to the work of the Hydrographic Office about
the coasts. Then, despairing of finding the wary natives, and having
exhausted food supplies, the party returned to the mainland and thence
to Costa Rica, arriving in the evening of December 31.
The original party comprised, in addition to the leader, Mr Willard D.
Johnson, topographer; Mr J. W. Mitchell, photographer; Hugh Morris,
Papago interpreter, and José Contrares, teamster. The party engaged
in the expedition to Sierra Seri comprised the leader, Messrs Johnson
and Mitchell, Mr L. K. Thompson of Hermosillo, Don Andrés Noriega of
Costa Rica, José Contrares, and two Papago Indian guards, Miguel and
Anton, of Costa Rica. The Tiburon party was made up of the leader,
Messrs Johnson and Mitchell, S. C. Millard of Los Angeles, and Señores
Andrés Noriega and Ygnacio Lozania, together with Ruperto Alvarez,
a Yaqui Indian guard, and Miguel, Anton, Mariana, Anton Ortiz, and
Anton Castillo, Papago guards; while Hugh Norris and José Contrares,
with half a dozen Papago guards and other attachés of the rancho at
Costa Rica, maintained an intermittent supply station at Embarcadero
Andrade. Señor Encinas cooperated in the work of the expedition, part
of the time at Costa Rica and part at Molino del Encinas, his principal
hacienda in the outskirts of Hermosillo; while Mr Thompson and Dr W. J.
Lyons aided in the work, the former at both Hermosillo and Costa Rica
and the latter at Hermosillo.
The return trip from Costa Rica lay via Hermosillo, and permitted the
extension of the plane-table surveys to this longitude. While at the
city advantage was taken of the opportunity to obtain linguistic and
other data from “El General” Kolusio, a full-blood Seri retained at
the capital by the State for occasional duty as a Seri interpreter,
who was obligingly assigned to the service of the party by Señor Don
Ramón Corral, then governor of Sonora. At Hermosillo the leader of the
expedition left the main party, which then proceeded northwestward
and northward along the route followed by the 1894 expedition on the
return journey, the party comprising Mr Johnson, in charge, with
Messrs Mitchell and Millard, Hugh Norris, and José Contrares; and the
plane-table surveys were continued and combined with the route surveys
made on the outward journey.
The principal ethnologic results of both expeditions relating to
the Seri Indians are incorporated in the following pages; the data
concerning the Papago are reserved for further study. The topographic
surveys of the 1895 expedition covered a zone averaging 50 miles in
width, extending from the international boundary to somewhat beyond
Rio Sonora. Mr Johnson, by whom these surveys were executed, was on
furlough from the United States Geological Survey, and his resumption
of survey work prevented the construction of finished maps, except
that of Seriland (plate I), which forms but a small fraction of the
area surveyed. The results of the remaining, and by far the greater,
part of the topographic surveys are withheld pending completion of the
inquiries concerning the Papago Indians.
* * * * *
The geographic nomenclature found requisite in the field and in writing
is partly new and partly restored, yet conforms with general and local
custom so far as practicable; and nearly all of the new names have been
applied in commemoration of explorers or pioneers. Most of the names
pertaining to Seriland proper are incorporated in the map forming plate
I; the others (including a few minor corrections) appear in the outline
map forming figure 1, prepared after the larger sheet was printed.[2]
[2] The larger map was drawn early in 1896, and a preliminary edition
in the form of a photolithograph of the drawing was published in
the National Geographic Magazine, vol. VII, 1896. It is proper—and
historically desirable—to explain that while a considerable part of the
copy for this paper was prepared at about the same time, circumstances
prevented the completion of the manuscript and the final rectification
of the nomenclature and bibliographic references until September 1,
1900.
The following list of place-names is designed primarily to give
the meaning and raison d’être of the nomenclature; with a single
exception,[3] the names are Hispanized or Mexicanized in accordance
with local usage.
[3] Johnson peak. It is proper to say that this name was applied by the
author (and leader of the expedition) after the drawing was completed
and submitted by Mr Johnson, as a meager tribute to his excellent work
in the field and on the drawings named.
_Nomenclature of Seriland._[4]
[4] An asterisk indicates new names, an obelisk old names restored or
colloquial names adopted.
*SERILAND: Extra-vernacular name of tribe, with English
locative.
MAR DE CORTÉS (Sea of Cortés=Gulf of California): Customary
Sonoran designation, applied by Ulloa (1539) in honor of
Hernando Cortés, first discoverer of the gulf.
*PASAJE ULLOA (Ulloa passage): Generic Spanish; specific
applied in honor of Captain Francisco de Ulloa, first navigator
of the passage and the upper gulf, 1539.
*ESTRECHO ALARCON (Alarcon strait): Named in honor of Hernando
de Alarcon, second navigator of the gulf; 1540.
EL INFIERNILLO (The Little Hell): Local designation, retained
by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N. (miswritten “Estrecho
Infiernillo” on larger map).
†BOCA INFIERNO (Mouth of Hell): A colloquial local designation
(miswritten “Puerto Infierno” on larger map).
*BAHIA KUNKAAK (Kunkaak bay): Generic Spanish; specific the
vernacular name of the Seri tribe (miswritten “Tiburon bay” on
plates IV and V).
[Illustration: FIG. 1—Nomenclatural map of Seriland.]
BAHIA KINO (Kino bay): Long-standing name given in honor of
Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, an early Jesuit missionary (the
“Bahia San Juan Bautista” of various early maps); adopted in
Anglicized form by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
†BAHIA TEPOPA (Tepopa bay): Specific a corruption of Tepoka,
the extra-vernacular name of a local tribe related to the Seri;
applied in 1746 by Padre Consag, and used by most navigators
and cartographers of later dates, though it does not appear on
the charts of the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
BAHIA AGUA DULCE (Freshwater bay): Named by Lieutenant R. W.
H. Hardy, R. N., 1826; name retained (in Anglicized form) by
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N. (The name is misplaced on Hardy’s
map, but the bay is correctly located in his text, p. 293.)
†BAHIA BRUJA (Witch bay): Named (in honor of his vessel) by its
discoverer, Lieutenant Hardy, 1826.
*BAHIA ESPENCE (Spence bay): Named in honor of Pilot Tomás
Espence (Thomas Spence), second circumnavigator of the island,
who landed in the bay in 1844.
†ESTERO COCHLA (Cockle inlet): Named by Lieutenant Hardy, 1826.
*BAJIOS DE UGARTE (Ugarte shoals): Named in honor of Padre Juan
de Ugarte, first visitor to the shoals and circumnavigator of
Tiburon, 1721.
*RADA BALLENA (Whale roadstead): Named from the stranding of a
whale about 1887, an incident of much note among the Seri.
*ANCLAJE DEWEY (Dewey anchorage): Named in honor of its
discoverer, Commander (now Admiral) George Dewey, in charge of
the surveys by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N., 1873.
LAGUNA LA CRUZ (Lagoon of the Cross): Name adopted (Anglicized)
by Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.; the “Laguna de los
Cercaditos” (Lagoon of the Little Banks) of Colonel Francisco
Andrade, 1844.
ISLA TIBURON (Shark island): Name of long standing; used
alternatively with “Isla San Agustin” since the seventeenth
century, both names being apparently applied to Isla Tassne
by several writers, and also to Isla Angel de la Guarda (the
second largest island in the gulf) by Kino and others, while
the present Tiburon was regarded as a peninsula.
ISLA SAN ESTEBAN (Saint Stephen island): Name of long standing;
in consistent use since early in the seventeenth century.
*ISLA TASSNE (Pelican island): Name recast by the use of the
Seri specific in lieu of the Spanish (Alcatráz), which is too
hackneyed for distinctive use.
ISLA TURNER (Turner island): Name used (and probably applied
in honor of Rear-Admiral Thomas Turner, U. S. N.) by the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
ISLA PATOS (Duck island—i. e., Island of Ducks): Name of long
standing; adopted by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
ROCA FOCA (Seal rock): Name used (and probably applied) by the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
PEÑA BLANCA (White crag): Name used (and probably applied) by
the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA TEPOPA (Tepopa point): Named (probably corruptly) from
a local tribe related to the Seri; used by the Hydrographic
Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA SARGENT (Sargent point): Name applied by Lieutenant Hardy
in 1826 to what is now known as Punta Tepopa; adopted for the
minor point by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
*PUNTA PERLA (Pearl point): Name applied in commemoration of
the traditional pearl fisheries of the vicinity.
*PUNTA ARENA (Sand point): A descriptive designation.
*PUNTA TORTUGA (Turtle point): Name applied in recognition of
the extensive turtle fisheries of the Seri in the vicinity.
*PUNTA TORMENTA (Hurricane point): Name applied in recognition
of the nearly continuous gales and tide-rips by which
navigation is rendered hazardous, and by which the long
sand-spit has been built.
PUNTA MIGUEL (Miguel point): Recast from “San Miguel point”,
partly through association with the name of a Papago guard
accompanying the expedition of 1895; in the old form the name
is of long standing, was probably applied by Escalante in 1700,
and was adopted by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N., 1873.
*PUNTA GRANITA (Granite point): A descriptive designation.
*PUNTA BLANCA (White point): A descriptive designation.
*PUNTA NARRAGANSETT (Narragansett point): Specific (of
Algonquian Indian derivation) applied in commemoration of the
vessel employed in the surveys by the Hydrographic Office, U.
S. N., in 1873, the point being that at which the commander of
the _Narragansett_ located the principal Seri rancheria of that
time and made observations on the tribe.
*PUNTA YGNACIO (Ygnacio point): Specific applied in honor of
Don Ygnacio Lozania, a trusted aid in the 1895 expedition,
who had visited this point in connection with the Andrade
expedition of 1844; described as “Dark bluff” on charts of the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
*PUNTA ANTIGUALLA (Antiquity point—i. e., Point of
Antiquities): Name applied in recognition of a great
shell-mound which has retarded the transgression of the sea and
produced the point.
PUNTA KINO (Kino point): Name of long standing; specific in
honor of the early missionary; used by the Hydrographic Office,
U. S. N.
*PUNTA MASHÉM (Mashém point): Specific in honor of the Seri
chief Mashém (sometimes called Francisco Estorga or Juan
Estorga), who speaks Spanish and acted as Seri-Spanish
interpreter in 1894.
PUNTA MONUMENTA (Monument point): Named by the Hydrographic
Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA COLORADA (Red point): Recast from the “Red Bluff point”
of the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA WILLARD (Willard point): Origin of name unknown; used by
the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
*EMBARCADERO ANDRADE (Andrade landing): Named in memory of the
embarcation for Tiburon of Colonel Francisco Andrade, 1844.
*CAMPO NAVIDAD (Christmas camp): Named in memory of a camp
occupied December 24-26 by the expedition of 1895.
*SIERRA SERI (Seri range): Generic Spanish, specific the
extra-vernacular tribe name.
*SIERRA KUNKAAK (Kunkaak range): Specific the vernacular tribe
name.
*SIERRA MENOR (Minor range): A descriptive designation.
*CERROS ANACORETOS (Anchorite hills): A designation suggested
to Topographer Johnson by the solitary series of spurs rising
singly or in scattered groups from the sheetflood-carved desert
plain.
*JOHNSON PEAK: Name applied in commemoration of the first and
only ascent of the peak, and of its occupation as a survey
station, December 7 and 8, 1895, by Willard D. Johnson,
accompanied by John Walter Mitchell and Miguel (Papago Indian).
*DESIERTO ENCINAS (Encinas desert): Generic Spanish, specific
in honor of the intrepid settler on the outskirts of the
desert, Señor Pascual Encinas.
*PLAYA NORIEGA (Noriega playa): Generic Spanish, specific in
honor of Don Andrés Noriega, kinsman of Señora Anita Encinas,
a resident on the outskirts of the desert, and the leading
Mexican aid in the expedition of 1895.
*ARENALES DE GIL (Gil sandbanks): Generic Spanish, specific in
honor of Fray Juan Crisóstomo Gil de Bernabe, sole missionary
to Seriland, massacred at this point in 1773.
*RIO SONORA (Sonora river): Generic Spanish, specific a long
standing and originally colloquial corruption of Señora, a
designation said to have been applied by Spanish pioneers
to a hospitable native chieftainess; afterwards apparently
fixed through the name of an early mining camp and garrison
and perhaps by similarity to a local aboriginal (Opata) term
connoting maize, i. e., _sonot_.
RIO BACUACHE (Bacuache river): Name of long standing; specific
doubtless from the Opata term _bacot_, “snake”, with a locative
termination, i. e., “Snake place”.
†ARROYO CARRIZAL (Reedy arroyo): Generic and specific Spanish;
colloquial designation used by the Seri chief Mashém in
describing the island; a traditional name of long standing.
†ARROYO AGUA DULCE (Freshwater arroyo): A traditional name like
the former, also used by Mashém.
*ARROYO MILLARD (Millard arroyo): Named in memory of S. C.
Millard, aid and interpreter in the expedition of 1895 (died
1897).
*ARROYO MARIANA (Mariana arroyo): Named in honor of Mariana
(Papago Indian), a guard accompanying the 1895 expedition, who
had once approached this arroyo on a hunting expedition.
*ARROYO MITCHELL (Mitchell arroyo): Named in honor of John
Walter Mitchell, photographer of the 1895 expedition.
†POZO ESCALANTE (Escalante well): Generic Spanish, specific
in honor of Sergeant Juan Bautista de Escalante, the first
Caucasian to cross El Infiernillo (in 1700), who is reputed to
have dug the shallow well still existing; the name has been
retained ever since alternatively with “Agua Amarilla” (Yellow
water); doubtless the “Carrizal” of certain early maps; the
site of the only mission ever established in Seriland, and of
the massacre of Fray Crisóstomo Gil in 1773.
*POZO HARDY (Hardy well): Named in honor of Lieutenant R. W. H.
Hardy, R. N., second known Caucasian visitor to the spot, 1826.
*AGUAJE ANTON (Anton water, or water-hole): Generic a common
Mexican term; specific applied in memory of Anton (Papago
Indian), a guard and visitor to the spot in the expedition of
1895.
*AGUAJE PARILLA (Parilla water): A traditional water (not found
by the expedition of 1895) named in memory of Colonel Diego
Ortiz Parilla, the vaunted destroyer of the Seri in 1749, whose
imposing expedition may have reached this point.
*BARRANCA SALINA (Saline gorge): Generic colloquial Mexican,
specific denoting the character of the practically permanent
water; the designation applied by Mexican vaqueros and Papago
hunters, who occasionally visit the locality.
*TINAJA ANITA (Anita basin): Generic a useful Mexican term for
a water-pocket, or rock basin containing water supplied by
storms or seepage; specific a tribute to Anita Newcomb McGee,
M. D., Actg. Asst. Surg. U. S. A.; perhaps the “Aguaje de
Andrade” of 1844.
*TINAJA TRINCHERA (Entrenched basin): Specific a common Mexican
term for the ancient entrenchments found on many mountains of
Papagueria; applied in recognition of a few low, loose-laid
stone walls about the tinaja, the only structures of the kind
known in Seriland.
RANCHO SAN FRANCISCO DE COSTA RICA: Name applied by the
founder, Señor Pascual Encinas, about 1850.
RANCHO SANTA ANA: Name applied by the founder, Señor Encinas,
about 1870.
RANCHO LIBERTAD: Name applied by the founder, Señor Encinas,
about 1875.
The fairly full geographic nomenclature of Seriland merely expresses
the necessity for place-names, felt in some measure by all intelligent
beings, and realized especially by explorers and describers of the
region. Excepting the ranchos and perhaps Pozo Escalante, they denote
natural features only, and, with the same exceptions, the features are
seen but rarely or from great distances by enlightened men. Despite
the wealth of place-names and the strongly accentuated configuration
which the nomenclature expresses, Seriland is one of the most hopeless
deserts of the American hemisphere.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Since most of the field work of the two expeditions lay in the
neighboring Republic of Mexico, it became necessary to ask official
sanction for the operations from the Mexican government; and it is
a pleasure to say that every possible privilege and courtesy were
extended by both federal and state officials. Especial acknowledgments
are due to the Mexican minister (and afterward ambassador) to the
United States, his Excellency Don Mateo Romero (now deceased); to
the Ministro de Fomento of the Mexican Republic, Excelencia Don
Fernando Leal; and to the governor of the State of Sonora, Señor Don
Ramón Corral. Equal acknowledgments are due to various United States
officials, notably Honorable W. Woodville Rockhill, First Assistant
Secretary of State when the expeditions were planned; and it is a
pleasure to advert to the active interest taken in both expeditions by
Honorable S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and
to the careful attention given the 1894 expedition by the late Dr G.
Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Institution.
Mr Willard D. Johnson did invaluable service in connection with the
second expedition, particularly in the execution of surveys and the
construction of maps in inimitable style. Mr William Dinwiddie is
to be credited with the excellent photographs made during the 1894
expedition, with the representation of the devices used in Seri
face-painting, and with various other aids to the investigation; while
Mr J. W. Mitchell is to be credited with the photographs made on Isla
Tiburon, and with other contributions to the success of the 1895
expedition. Acknowledgments are due also to all of the participants
in both expeditions, whose names appear in other paragraphs. Their
contributions were not primarily intellectual, yet were of a kind and
amount to be forever remembered among men who have worked and hungered
and thirsted and stood guard together. The deepest debt connected with
the field work is to the now venerable but ever vigorous pioneer,
Señor Pascual Encinas; and no small part of this debt goes over to
his estimable spouse, Señora Anita Encinas, who twice traversed the
long road from Hermosillo to Costa Rica in the interest of the 1895
expedition.
The scientific results of the researches have been enriched by
invaluable contributions from Director Powell’s store of ethnologic
knowledge, and by suggestions from Messrs Frank Hamilton Cushing,
F. W. Hodge, James Mooney, and other collaborators in the Bureau of
American Ethnology. The qualities of the colored illustrations are
due largely to the artistic skill of Mr Wells M. Sawyer, by whom
they were designed, and of Mr DeLancey Gill, by whom the proofs were
revised. The Spanish translations are due chiefly to Colonel F. F.
Hilder, ethnologic translator of the Bureau, partly to Mr Emanuele
Fronani; though neither can be charged with errors of interpretation
or of Englishing, both finally shaped by the author. The somatic
determinations and discussions were by Dr Ales Hrdlička, of New York;
the tests for arrow poison were made by Dr S. Weir Mitchell, of
Philadelphia; while the philologic comparisons were made almost wholly
(with notable thoroughness and perspicacity, and in such wise as to
illustrate the wealth and utility of the linguistic collections of the
Bureau) by Mr J. N. B. Hewitt. Finally, it has become due, probably
for the first time in the nearly four centuries of their history, to
make public acknowledgment of services by Seri Indians, viz., subchief
Mashém, the real sponsor for the Bureau vocabulary and many other data,
and “El General” Kolusio, the outlaw interpreter of Hermosillo and
contributor to certain historical identifications.
HABITAT
LOCATION AND AREA
Seriland, the home from time immemorial of the Seri Indians, lies
in northwestern Mexico, forming a part of the State of Sonora. It
comprises Tiburon island, the largest and most elevated insular body in
Gulf of California, together with a few islets and an adjacent tract
of mainland; the center of the district being marked approximately by
the intersection of the parallel of 29° with the meridian of 112°.
The territory is divided by the narrow but turbulent strait, El
Infiernillo. It is bounded on the west and south by the waters of the
gulf with its eastward extensions to Kino bay, on the east by a nearly
impassable desert, and on the north by a waterless stretch of sandy
plains and rugged sierras 50 to 100 miles in extent.
Tiburon island is about 30 miles in length from north to south and 12
to 20 miles in width; its area, with that of the adjacent islets, is
barely 500 square miles. The mainland tract held by the Seri is without
definite boundary; measured to the middle of the limiting desert on
the east and halfway across the waterless zone on the north, its area
may be put at 1,500 square miles. To this land area of 2,000 square
miles may be added the water area of the strait, with its northern and
southern embouchures, and the coastwise waters habitually navigated by
the Seri balsas as far as Kino bay, making half as much more of water
area. Such is the district which the Seri claim and seek to control,
and have practically protected against invasion for nearly four
centuries of history and for uncounted generations of prehistory.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Seriland forms part of a great natural province lying west of the
Sierra Madre of western Mexico and south of an indefinite boundary
about the latitude of Gila river, which may be designated the Sonoran
province; it differs from Powell’s province of the Basin ranges in that
it opens toward the sea, and also in other respects; and it is allied
in many of its characteristics to the arid piedmont zone lying west of
the Andes in South America.
In general configuration the province may be likened to a great
roof-slope stretching southwestward from a comb in the Sierra Madre
to a broad eaves-trough forming Gulf of California, the slope rising
steeper toward the crest and lying flatter toward the coast; but the
expanse is warped by minor swells, guttered by waterways, and dormered
by outlying ranges and buttes. The most conspicuous inequality of the
slope (partly because of its coincidence with tide-level) is offered by
the rugged ranges of Seriland. These may be considered four in number,
all approximately parallel with each other and with the coast; the
first is a series of eroded remnants (Cerros Anacoretos) from 600 to
1,200 feet in height; the second is the exceedingly rugged Sierra Seri,
culminating in Johnson peak 5,000 feet above tide; the third is Sierra
Kunkaak, attaining about 4,000 feet in its highest point; the fourth is
Sierra Menor, some 2,000 feet high, with the northern extremity sliced
off obliquely by marine erosion. The principal arm of Desierto Encinas
lies between the first two ranges, El Infiernillo separates the second
and third, while a subdesert valley divides the third from the fourth.
The valleys correspond more closely than the ranges; if the land level
were 100 feet higher the strait and its terminal bays would become
an arid valley like the others, while if the sea-level were 500 feet
higher the four ranges would become separate islands similar to Angel
de la Guarda and others in the gulf.
The Sonoran province is notably warm and dry. The vapor-laden
air-currents from the Pacific drift across it and are first warmed by
conduction and radiation from the sun-scorched land, to be chilled
again as they roll up the steeper roof-slope to the crest; and the
precipitation flows part way down the slopes, both eastward and
westward from the Sierra Madre—literally the Mother (of waters)
range. A climatal characteristic of the province is two relatively
humid seasons, coinciding with the two principal inflections of the
annual temperature-curve, i. e., in January-February and July-August,
respectively. In the absence of meteorologic records the temperature
and precipitation maybe inferred from the observations at Yuma
and Tucson,[5] which are among the warmest and driest stations in
America, or indeed in the world; though it is probable that such
points as Caborca, Bacuachito, and Hermosillo are decidedly warmer
and perhaps slightly moister than Yuma. The ordinary midday summer
temperature at these points may be estimated at about 110° in the
shade (frequently rising 5° or 10° higher, but dropping 20° to 50°
in case of cloudiness); the night temperature at the same season is
usually 50° to 75°, though during two-thirds of the year it is liable
to fall to or below the freezing point. The sun temperature is high in
comparison with that measured in the shade, the exposed thermometer
frequently rising to 150° or 160°, according to its construction, while
black-finished metal becomes too hot to be handled, and dark sand and
rocks literally scorch unprotected feet. The leading characteristic of
the temperature is the wide diurnal range and the relatively narrow
annual range; another characteristic is the uniformity, or periodic
steadiness, of the maxima, coupled with variability and nonperiodicity
of the minima.
[5] The following monthly and annual meteorologic summaries, compiled
from United States Weather Bureau records at these stations, have
been kindly furnished by Prof. Willis L. Moore, Superintendent of the
Bureau. The tabulated records represent the observations of twenty
years at Yuma and ten years at Tucson.
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Year
Absolute
maximum
temper-
ature,
Fahr.:
Yuma 81 91 100 105 112 117 118 115 113 108 92 83 118
Tucson 84 85 95 101 106 111 110 109 106 97 89 82 111
Absolute
minimum
temper-
ature,
Fahr.:
Yuma 22 25 31 40 44 52 61 60 50 41 31 25 22
Tucson 14 20 24 32 38 39 64 60 46 31 23 11 11
Mean
maximum
temper-
ature,
Fahr.:
Yuma 65.1 70.7 78.5 85.4 93.2 101.2 106.7 104.9 99.6 87.2 75.0 67.4 86.6
Tucson 62.9 67.0 74.5 81.4 91.4 100.2 99.0 94.8 92.2 82.8 71.5 63.7 81.8
Mean
minimum
temper-
ature,
Fahr.:
Yuma 42.0 46.1 50.8 55.1 61.4 68.3 77.2 77.6 70.5 58.5 48.8 44.7 58.4
Tucson 34.9 41.5 44.0 48.1 55.3 63.8 75.0 73.6 67.3 52.1 42.5 35.1 52.8
Mean
temper-
ature,
Fahr.:
Yuma 54.1 58.8 64.5 69.8 77.2 84.9 91.5 90.7 84.4 73.0 61.9 56.0 72.2
Tucson 49.4 53.2 59.5 65.6 74.0 82.3 87.2 83.5 77.7 68.5 57.0 52.0 67.4
Mean
precip-
itation
inches
and
hundredths):
Yuma 0.42 0.51 0.26 0.07 0.04 T. 0.14 0.35 0.15 0.28 0.29 0.46 3.04
Tucson 0.75 0.98 0.90 0.17 0.16 0.19 2.86 3.08 1.16 0.33 0.37 0.95 12.26
Prevailing
winds:
Yuma N. N. W. W. W. SW. S. S. NE. NE. N. N. N.
Tucson S. S. S. W. S. SW. SE. SE. S. S. S. SE. S.
Average
cloudiness
(scale 0-10):
Yuma 2.4 2.4 2.4 1.6 1.3 0.8 1.8 2.3 1.1 1.3 1.7 2.5 1.8
Tucson 3.0 3.2 3.2 1.8 1.6 1.5 4.5 4.4 1.9 1.6 1.6 2.9 2.6
The precipitation on the Sonoran province is chiefly in the form of
rain; in the winter humid season snow falls frequently on the Sierra
Madre and rarely on the outlying ranges; in both humid seasons (and in
humid spots at all seasons) dew forms in greater or less abundance. Fog
frequently gathers along the coast, especially during the winter and in
the midsummer wet season, and sometimes drifts inland for miles. The
mean annual precipitation may be estimated at 20 or 25 inches toward
the crest and half as much toward the base of the high sierra; thence
it diminishes coastward, probably to less than 2 inches; the mean for
the extensive plains forming the greater part of the province may be
estimated at 3 or 4 inches. The greater part of the precipitation is
in local storms, frequently accompanied by thunder-gusts or sudden
tempests, though cold drizzles sometimes occur, especially at the
height of the winter humid season. Except where the local configuration
is such as to affect the atmospheric movements, the distribution of
precipitation is erratic, in both time and space; some spots may
receive half a dozen rains within a year, while other spots may remain
rainless for several years; and the wet spot of one series of years may
be the dry spot of the next.
The climatal features of Seriland are somewhat affected by the
pronounced topographic features of the district. Snow sometimes falls
on Sierra Seri, and probably on Sierra Kunkaak; gales gather about
the rugged ranges at all seasons, and sometimes produce precipitation
out of season; the extreme heat of midday and midsummer is tempered
by the proximity of the tide-swept gulf; and since most of the local
derangements tend to augment precipitation and reduce temperature, it
would seem safe to estimate the mean annual rainfall of the tract at 4
or 5 inches, and the mean temperature at about 70°, with a mean annual
range of some 30° and an extreme diurnal range of fully 80°.
The configuration and climate combine to give distinctive character to
the hydrography of the Sonoran province. The melting snows and more
abundant rains of the high sierras form innumerable streams flowing
down the steeper slopes toward the piedmont plains, or soak into the
pervious rocks to reappear as springs at lower levels; sometimes the
streams unite to form considerable rivers, flowing scores of miles
beyond the mountain confines; but eventually all the running waters
are absorbed by the dry sands of the plains or evaporated into the
drier air; and from the mouth of the Colorado to that of the Taqui,
500 miles away, no fresh water ever flows into the sea. During the
winter wet season, and to a less extent during that of summer, the
mountain waterways are occupied by rushing torrents, rivaling great
rivers in volume, and these floods flow far over the plains; but during
the normal droughts the torrents shrink to streamlets purling among
the rocks, or give place to blistering sand-wastes furlongs or even
miles in width and dozens of miles in length, while beyond stretch
low, radially scored alluvial fans, built by the great freshets of
millenniums. Only a trifling part of the rainfall of the plains ever
gathers in the waterways heading in the mountains, and only another
small part gathers in local channels; the lighter rains from higher
clouds are so far evaporated in the lower strata of the air as to reach
the earth in feeble sprinkles or not at all; the product of moderate
showers is absorbed directly by earth and air; while the water of
heavy rains accumulates in mud-burdened sheets, spreading far over the
plains, flowing sluggishly down the slopes, yet suffering absorption
by earth and air too rapidly to permit concentration in channels.
These moving mud-blankets of the plains, or sheetfloods,[6] are often
supplemented by the discharge from the waterways of adjacent sierras
and buttes; they are commonly miles and frequently dozens or scores
of miles in width, and the linear flow may range from a fraction of
a mile to scores of miles according to the heaviness of the rainfall
and the consequent dilution of the mud. Such sheetfloods, especially
those produced by considerable rains, are characteristic agents of
erosion throughout most of the province; their tendency is to aggrade
depressions and corrade laterally, and thus to produce smooth plains of
gentle slope interrupted only by exceptionally precipitous and rugged
mountain remnants. A part of the sheetflood water joins the stronger
mountain-born streams, particularly toward the end of the great storm
whereby earth and air are saturated; another part forms ground-water,
which slowly finds its way down the slopes toward the principal
valleys, perhaps to reappear as springs or to supply wells. These with
certain other conditions determine the water-supply available for
habitation throughout Seriland and adjacent Papagueria.
[6] Defined and described in Sheetflood Erosion, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.,
vol. VII, 1897, p. 87.
Another condition of prime importance arises in a secular tilting of
the entire province southwestward. This tilting is connected with the
upthrust of the Sierra Madre and the uplifting of the plateau country
and the southern Rocky mountain region north of the international
boundary. Its rate is measured by the erosion of the Grand Canyon of
the Colorado and other gorges; and its dates, in terms of the geologic
time-scale, run at least from the middle Tertiary to the present, or
throughout the Neocene and Pleistocene. Throughout this vast period the
effect of the tilting in the Sonoran province has been to invigorate
streams flowing southward, and to paralyze streams flowing toward the
northerly and easterly compass-points; accordingly the streams flowing
toward the gulf have eroded their channels effectively during the ages,
and have frequently retrogressed entirely through outlying ranges; so
that throughout the province the divides seldom correspond with the
sierra crests.
A typical stream of the province is Rio Bacuache, one of the two
practicable overland ways into Seriland (albeit never surveyed until
traversed by the 1895 expedition). Viewed in its simple geographic
aspect, this stream may be said to originate in a broad valley parallel
with the gulf and the high sierra, 200 miles northeast of Kino bay;
its half-dozen tributary arroyos (sun-baked sand-washes during three
hundred and sixty days and mud-torrents during five days of the average
year) gather in the sheetflood plain and unite at Pozo Noriega, where
the ground-water gives permanent supply to a well; then the channel
cleaves a rocky sierra 3,000 feet high in a narrow gorge, and within
this canyon the ground-water gathered in the valley above seeps to the
surface of the sand-wash and flows in a practically permanent streamlet
throughout the 4 or 5 miles forming the width of the sierra; then the
liquid sinks, and 25 miles of blistering sand-wash (interrupted by
a single lateral spring) stretch across the next valley to Pueblo
Tiejo, where another sierra is cleft by the channel, and where the
water again exudes and flows through a sand-lined rock-bed (figure
2). In the local terminology this portion alone is Rio Bacuache, the
upper stretches of the waterway bearing different names; it supplies
the settlement and fields of Bacuachito, flowing above the sands 5
to 15 miles, according to season; then it returns to the sand-wash
habit for 50 miles, throughout much of which distance wells may find
supply at increasing depths; finally it passes into the delta phase,
and enters northeastern Seriland in a zone marked by exceptionally
vigorous mesquite forests. Normally the 200 miles of stream way is
actual stream only in two stretches of say 5 miles each, some 25 miles
apart, and the farther of these stops midway between the head of the
channel and the open sea toward which it trends and slopes; but during
and after great storms it is transformed into a river approaching the
Ohio or the Rhine in volume, flowing tumultuously for 150 miles, and
finally sinking in the sands of Desierto Encinas, 30 to 50 miles from
the coast. Viewed with respect to genesis, Rio Bacuache has responded
to the stimulus of the southwestern tilting, and has retrogressed up
the slope through two sierras, besides minor ranges and 100 miles of
sheetflood-carved plains; while the debris thus gathered has filled the
original gorge to a depth of hundreds of feet, and has overflowed the
adjacent sheetflood-flattened expanses to form the great alluvial fan
of eastern Seriland. The genetic conditions explain the distribution
of the water: the product of the semiannual storms suffices to form
a meager supply of ground water, which is diffused in the sands and
softer rocks of the plains, and concentrated in the narrow channels
carved through the dense granites of the sierras; and enough of the
flow passes the barriers to supply deep wells in the terminal fan, as
at the frontier ranchos Libertad (abandoned) and Santa Ana, just as
the subterranean seepage from the Sonora more richly supplies the deep
well at San Francisco de Costa Rica. In these lower reaches the mineral
salts, normally present in minute quantities, are concentrated so that
the water from these wells is slightly saline, while deeper in the
desert the scanty water is quite salt.
[Illustration: FIG. 2—Gateway to Seriland—gorge of Rio Bacuache.]
* * * * *
In Seriland proper the distribution of potable water is conditioned by
the meager precipitation, the local configuration (shaped largely by
sheetflood erosion), and the disturbance of equilibrium of the scanty
ground-water due to the tilting of the province. The most abundant
permanent supply of fresh water is that of Arroyo Carrizal, which is
fed by drainage and seepage from the broad and lofty mass of pervious
rocks forming the southern part of Sierra Kunkaak, the abundant supply
being due to the fact that the eastern tributaries are energetically
retrogressing into the mass in deep gorges which effectually tap the
water stored during the semiannual storms. The arroyo and valley of
Agua Dulce are less favorably conditioned by reason of a trend against
the tilting of the province and by reason of the narrower and lower
mass of tributary rock in the northern part of the range, and the
flow is impermanent, as indicated by the absence of canes and other
stream plants; yet four explorers (Ugarte, 1721; Hardy, 1826; Espence,
1844; Dewey, 1875) reported fresh water, apparently in a shallow well
tapping the underflow, at the embouchure of the arroyo. On the eastern
slope of Sierra Kunkaak there are several arroyos which carry water
for weeks or even months after the winter rains, and sometimes after
those of summer; but the only permanent water—Tinaja Anita—is at the
base of a stupendous cliff of exceptionally pervious and easily eroded
rocks, so deeply cut that ground-water is effectually tapped, while
an adjacent chasm—Arroyo Millard—is so situated that the cliff-faced
spur of the sierra above the tinaja absorbs an exceptional proportion
of the surface flowage from the main crest. The tinaja (figure 3) is
permanent, as indicated by a canebrake some 20 by 50 feet in extent,
and by a native fig and a few other trees—though the dry-season
water-supply ranges from mere moisture of the rocks to a few gallons
caught in rock basins within the first 50 yards of the head of the
arroyo. No other permanent supplies of fresh water are known on the
island, though there are a few rather persistent tinajas along the
western base of Sierra Menor above Willard point.
On the mainland tract there is a cliff-bound basin, much like that of
Tinaja Anita, at the head of Arroyo Mitchell and base of Johnson peak,
christened Tinaja Trinchera; but the range is narrow and the rocks
granitic, and hence the supply is not quite permanent.[7] A practically
permanent supply of water is found in one or more pools or barrancas
at the head of Playa Noriega in Desierto Encinas. The liquid lies in
pools gouged by freshets in the bottoms of arroyos coming in from the
northward, just where the flow is checked by the spread of the waters
over the always saline playa; and, since they are modified by each
freshet, they are sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, sometimes entirely
sand-filled. When the barrancas are clogged, or when their contents
are evaporated, coyotes, deer, horses, and vaqueros obtain water by
excavating a few feet in the sand lining the larger arroyos. Commonly
the barranca water is too saline for Caucasian palates save in dire
extremity, but the salinity diminishes as the arroyos are ascended.
An apparently permanent supply of saline and nitrous water is found
in a 10-foot well, known as Pozo Escalante, or Agua Amarilla (yellow
water), near the southern extremity of Desierto Encinas, reputed to
have been excavated by Juan Bautista de Escalante in 1700, and still
remaining open; its location is such that it catches the subterranean
seepage from both Bacuache and Sonora rivers. The water is potable
but not palatable. Among the vaqueros of San Francisco de Costa Rica
there is a vague and ancient tradition of a carrizal-marked tinaja or
arroyo (Aguaje Parilla) at the eastern base of the southern portion of
Sierra Seri; and both vaqueros and Indians refer to one or more saline
barrancas about the western base of the same semirange, probably in
Arroyo Mariana.
[7] Tinaja Trinchera was entirely dry and without trace of carrizal in
December, 1894.
[Illustration: FIG. 3—Tinaja Anita.]
In brief, Arroyo Carrizal, Tinaja Anita, and Pozo Escalante are the
only permanent waters, and Pozo Hardy, Barranca Salina, and Tinaja
Trinchera the only subpermanent waters actually known to Caucasians in
all Seriland, though it seems probable that permanent water may exist
at Aguaje Parilla and in Arroyo Mariana, and impermanent supplies
near Bahia Espence. There may be one or two additional places of
practically permanent water in smaller quantity, and a few other places
in which saline water might be found either at the surface or by slight
excavation, and which may be approximately located by inspection of
the map under guidance of the principles set forth in the preceding
paragraphs; but this would seem to be the limit of trustworthy water
supply. During the humid seasons the waters are naturally multiplied,
yet it is improbable that any of the arroyos except Carrizal and Agua
Dulce and a few minor gulches along the more precipitous shores shed
water into the gulf save at times of extraordinary local flood.[8]
[8] The physiographic features of the Sonoran province in general are
treated in greater detail in a paper on Sheetflood Erosion, Bull. Geol.
Soc. Am., vol. VIII, 1897, pp. 87-112, and in a paper on Papagueria,
Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. IX, 1898, pp. 345-371; while certain local
features are described in a paper on Seriland, prepared jointly with
Willard D. Johnson, Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. VII, 1896, pp. 125-133. The
aggregate available fresh water of Seriland is estimated on p. 181*.
* * * * *
The geologic structure of the Sonoran province is complex and not
well understood. So far as the meager observations indicate, the
basal rocks are granites, frequently massive and sometimes schistose,
sometimes intersected by veins of quartz, etc. The granitic mass is
upthrust to form the nuclei of Sierra Madre and other considerable
ranges; it also approaches the surface over large areas of plains.
Resting unconformably on the granites lie heavy deposits of shales
and limestones, commonly more or less metamorphosed; these rocks
outcrop on the slopes of most of the main ranges and form the entire
visible mass of some of the lower sierras and buttes, while they,
too, sometimes approach the surface of the sheetflood-carved plain.
The rocks, both calcareous and argillaceous, combine the characters
of the vast Mesozoic limestone deposits of eastern Mexico and the
immense shale accumulations of corresponding age in California, and
hence probably represent the later half of the Mesozoic. This is the
only sedimentary series recognized in the province. Both the granites
and the sedimentary beds are occasionally overlain by volcanic
deposits, chiefly in the form of much-eroded lava-sheets and associated
tuff-beds, which sometimes form considerable ranges and buttes (notably
Sierra Kunkaak, of Isla Tiburon); these remnantal volcanic deposits
are probably late Mesozoic or early Tertiary. Newer volcanics occur
locally, forming mesas, as about Agua Nueva (40 miles northwest of
Hermosillo), or even coulees apparently filling barrancas of modern
aspect, as in the vicinity of Bacuachito,[9] or rising into cinder
cones surrounded by ejectamenta, as at Pico Pinacate, in northwestern
Sonora. The various rocks are usually bare or meagerly mantled with
talus in the mountains; over the greater part of the plains they are
commonly veneered with sheetflood deposits, ranging from a few inches
to a few yards in thickness; while the central portions of the larger
valleys are lined with alluvial accumulations reaching many hundreds of
feet in thickness.
[9] Noted by Willard D. Johnson.
The clearly interpretable geologic history began with extensive
degradation and eventual baseleveling of a granitic terrane in
Paleozoic or early Mesozoic time; then followed the deposition of
the shales and associated limestones during the later Mesozoic; next
came elevation, accompanied or followed by corrugation, chiefly in
folds parallel with the present coast, whereby the granite-based
sierras were produced, and accompanied also by the earlier vulcanism
to which the volcanic sierras owe their existence. A vast period of
degradation ensued, during which the land stood so high as to induce
greater precipitation than that of today and to permit the streams
to carve channels far below the present level of tide, and during
which the present general configuration was developed; then came the
southwestward tilting and consequent climatal desiccation, the filling
of the deeper valleys, the inauguration of sheetflood erosion, some
local vulcanism, and the progressive shifting of the divides.
The geologic structure affects the hydrography, especially that factor
determined by subterranean circulation, or ground-water; for the
superficial sheetflood and alluvial deposits are highly pervious and
many of the volcanics hardly less so, while the shales and limestones
are but slightly pervious and the granites nearly impervious. The
geologic structure also determines the character of the soil with
exceptional directness, since the dryness of the air and the dearth
of vegetation reduce rock decay to a negligible quantity. The
characteristically precipitous sierras and cerros are of naked ledges,
save where locally mantled with a mechanical débris of the same rocks
(much finer than the frost product of colder and humider regions); the
soil of the normal plains is but the little-oxidized upper surface of
sheetflood deposits made up of the mechanical debris of local rocks and
varying in coarseness with the slope; while the soil of the valleys is
detrital sand and silt, derived from tributary slopes, passing into
adobe where conditions are fit, and essentially mechanical in texture
and structure save where cemented by ground-water solutions at the
lower levels.
FLORA
The flora of the Sonoran province affords a striking example of
the adjustment of vegetal life to an unfavorable environment. The
prevailing vegetation is perennial, of slow growth and of stunted
aspect; and it is not distributed uniformly but arranged in separate
tufts or clusters, gathering into a nearly continuous mantle in wetter
spots, though commonly dotting the plains sparsely, to completely
disappear in the driest areas. Nearly all of the plants have roots
of exceptional length, and are protected from evaporation by a glazed
epidermis and from animal enemies by thorns or by offensive odors and
flavors; while most of the trees and shrubs are practically leafless
except during the humid seasons. Grasses are not characteristic, and
there is no sward, even in oases; but certain grasses grow in the
shadow of the arborescent tufts and in the fields of the farmer ants,
or spring up in scattered blades over the moister portions of the
surface. The arborescent vegetation represents two characteristic
types, viz., (1) trees and shrubs allied to those of humid lands, but
modified to fit arid conditions; and (2) distinctive forms, evidently
born of desert conditions and not adapted to a humid habitat, this type
comprising the cacti and related forms, as well as forms apparently
intermediate between the cacti and normal arborescent type. The various
plants of the district, including those of the distinctive types, are
communal or commensal, both among themselves and with animals, to a
remarkable degree; for their common strife against the hard physical
environment has forced them into cooperation for mutual support. The
tufts or clusters in which the vegetation is arranged express the
solidarity of life in the province; commonly each cluster is a vital
colony, made up of plants of various genera and orders, and forming a
home for animal life also of different genera and orders; and, although
measurably inimical, these various organisms are so far interdependent
that none could survive without the cooperation of the others.[10]
[10] The vital characteristics of the region have been described in
some detail in The Beginning of Agriculture, American Anthropologist,
vol. VIII, 1805, pp. 350-375; The Beginning of Zooculture, American
Anthropologist, vol. X, 1897, pp. 215-230; and Expedition to Seriland,
Science, vol. III, 1898, pp. 493-505.
In Seriland proper, as in other parts of the Sonoran province, a
prevailing tree is the mesquite (_Prosopis juliflora_); on the alluvial
fan of Rio Sonora it grows in remarkable luxuriance, forming (with
a few other trees) a practically continuous forest 20 to 40 feet in
height, the gnarled trunks sometimes reaching a diameter of 2 or
3 feet; over the Rio Bacuache fan and much of the remaining plain
surface it forms the dominant tree in the scattered vital colonies;
and here and there it pushes well into the canyon gorges. The roots
of the mesquite are of great length, and are said to penetrate to
water-bearing strata at depths of 50 to 75 feet; its fruit consists
of small hard beans embedded in slender woody pods. Associated with
the mesquite in most stations are the still more scraggy and thorny
cat-claw (_Acacia greggii_) and ironwood (_Olneya tesota_), both
also yielding woody beans in limited quantity. Similarly associated,
especially in the drier tracts, and characteristically abundant over
the plains portions of Isla Tiburon, are the paloverdes (_Parkinsonia
torreyana_, etc.), forming scraggy, wide-branching, greenbark trees 5 to
15 feet high, and commonly 3 to 10 inches in diameter of trunk. Over
the mountain sides, especially of Sierra Seri and Sierra Kunkaak, grow
sparsely the only straight-trunk trees of the region, rooted in the
rocks to the average number of a few score to the square mile; this is
the palo blanco (_Acacia willardiana_). Associated with it along rocky
barrancas of permanent water supply is a fig tree (_Ficus palmeri_),
which has a habit of springing from the walls and crests of cliffs,
and sending white-bark roots down the cliff-faces to the water 50 or
100 feet below, and which yields a small, insipid, and woody fruit.
Interspersed among the larger trees, and spreading over the intervening
spaces, particularly in the drier and more saline spots, grow a number
of thorny shrubs, much alike in external appearance and habit, though
representing half a dozen distinct genera (_Cassia_, _Microrhamnus_,
_Celtis_, _Krameria_, _Acacia_, _Randia_, _Stegnospherma_,
_Frankenia_, etc.), while considerable tracts are sparsely occupied by
straggling tufts of the Sonoran greasewood, or creosote bush (_Larrea
tridentata_), whose minute but bright green leafage relieves that
prevailing gray of the landscape in which the lighter greens of the
paloverde and cactus stems are lost.
[Illustration: FIG. 4—Beyond Encinas desert—the saguesa.]
Intermingling with the woody trees and shrubs in most stations, and
replacing them in some, are the conspicuous and characteristic cacti
in a score of forms. East of Desierto Encinas, and sometimes west of
it, these are dominated by the saguaro (_Cereus giganteus_), though
throughout most of Seriland the related saguesa (_Cereus pringleii?_)
prevails. The saguaro is a fluted and thorn-decked column, 1 foot to
3 feet in diameter and 10 to 60 feet in height, sometimes branching
into a candelabrum, while the still more monstrous saguesa (figure
4) usually consists of from three to ten such columns springing from
a single root; both are masses of watery pulp, revived and renewed
during each humid season, and both flower in a crown of fragrant and
brilliant blossoms at or near the top of column or branch, and fruit in
fig-like tunas (or prickly pears) during late summer or early autumn.
Ordinarily the saguesa, like the saguaro, is sparsely distributed; but
there is an immense tract between Desierto Encinas and the eastern
base of Sierra Seri in which it forms a literal forest, the giant
trunks close-set as those of trees in normal woodlands. Hardly less
imposing than the giant cactus is the wide-branching species known
as pitahaya (_Cereus thurburi_?), in which the trunks may be ten to
fifty in number, each 4 to 8 inches in diameter and 5 to 40 feet in
height; and equally conspicuous, especially in eastern Seriland, is the
cina (_Cereus schotti_), which is of corresponding size, and differs
chiefly in the simpler fluting of the thorn-protected columns. Both
the pitahaya and the cina flower and fruit like the saguaro, the tunas
yielded by the former being especially esteemed by Mexicans as well
as Indians. Another important cactus is the visnaga (_Echinocactus
wislizeni lecontei_), which rises in a single trunk much like the
saguaro, save that it is commonly but 3 to 6 feet in height and is
protected by a more effective armature of straight and curved thorns;
it yields a pleasantly acid, pulpy fruit, which may be extracted from
its thorny setting with some difficulty; but its chief value lies in
the purity and potability of the water with which the pulpy trunk
is stored. The visnaga is widely distributed throughout the Sonoran
province and beyond, and extends into eastern Seriland; it is rare west
of Desierto Encinas and is practically absent from Isla Tiburon, where
it may easily have been exterminated by the improvident Seri during the
centuries of their occupancy. Most abundant of all the cacti, and less
conspicuous only by reason of comparatively small size, is the cholla
(an arborescent _Opuntia_); on many of the sheetflood-carved plains it
forms extensive thickets 5 to 8 feet high, the main trunks being 2 to 6
inches in diameter, while dozens or hundreds of gaunt and thorn-covered
branches extend 3 to 8 feet in all directions; and it occurs here and
there throughout the district from the depths of the valleys and the
coast well up to the rocky slope of the sierras. It yields quantities
of fruit, somewhat like tunas, but more woody and insipid; this fruit
is seldom if ever used for human food, but is freely consumed by
herbivores. Much less abundant than the cholla is the nopal, or prickly
pear; and there are various other opuntias, often too slender to stand
alone and intertwined with stiffer shrubs which lend them support, and
many of these yield small berry-like tunas. Another characteristic
cactus, widespread as the cholla and abundant in nearly all parts
of Seriland save on the rocky slopes, is the okatilla (_Fouquiera
splendens_). It consists of half a dozen to a score of slender, woody,
and thorn-set branches radiating from a common root, usually at angles
of 30° to 45° from the vertical, and ordinarily reaching heights of 10
to 20 feet.
The pulp masses of the larger cacti, especially the saguaro, saguesa,
pitahaya, and cina, are supported by woody skeletons in the form
of vertical ribs coincident with the external flutings; within a
few years after the death and decay of these desert monsters the
skeletons weather out, and the vertical ribs form light and strong and
approximately straight bars or shafts, valuable for many industrial
purposes; while the slender arms of okatilla are equally valuable, in
the fresh condition after removal of the spiny armament, and in the
weathered state without special preparation.
On many of the higher plain-slopes, especially in eastern Seriland,
there are pulpy stemmed shrubs and bushes, sometimes reaching the
dignity of trees, which present the normal aspect of exogenous
perennials during life, but which are so spongy throughout as to
shrink into shreds of bark-like debris shortly after death. These
are the torotes of the Sonoran province—common torote (_Jatropha
cardiophylla_), torote amarillo (_Jatropha spathulata_), torote blanco
(_Bursera microphylla_), torote prieto (_Bursera laxiflora_), torotito
(_Jatropha canescens_?), etc. These plants grow in the scattered and
scraggy tufts characteristic of arid districts (a typical torote tuft
appears in left foreground of figure 4); they are protected from
evaporation by the usual glazed epidermis, and maintained by the water
absorbed during the humid seasons; but they are thornless and are
protected from animal enemies by pungent odors, and at least in some
cases by toxic juices. Like various plants of the province they are
measurably communal—indeed, the torotito appears to be dependent on
union with an insect for reproduction, like certain yuccas, and like
the cina and (in some degree at least) the saguaro and other cacti.
Along the lower reaches of Rio Bacuache, and in some of the deeper
gorges of Sierra Seri and Sierra Kunkaak, grow a few veritable trees
of moderately straight trunk and grain and solid wood, such as the
guaiacan (_Guaiacum coulteri_) and sanjuanito (_Jacquinia pungens_);
both of these fruit, the former in a wahoo-like berry of medicinal
properties, and the latter in a nut, edible when not quite ripe and
forming a favorite rattle-bead when dry. On the flanks of such gorges
the slender-branched baraprieta (_Cæsalpinia gracilis_) grows up in
the shelter of more vigorous shrubs, its branches yielding basketry
material, while its fruit is a woody bean much like that of the
cat-claw. In like stations there are occasional clumps of yerba mala
or yerba de flecha (_Sebastiana bilocularis_), an exceptionally leafy
bush growing in straight stems suitable for arrowshafts, and alleged
to be poisonous from root to leaf—with inherent probability, since
the plant is without the thorny armature normal to the desert. Along
the sand-washes, especially about their lower extremities wet only in
floods, springs a subannual plant (_Hymenoclea monogyra_) which shrinks
to stunted tussocks after a year or more of drought, but flourishes in
close-set fens after floods; though of acrid flavor and sage-like odor,
it is eaten by herbivores in time of need, and it yields abundant
seeds, consumed by birds, small animals, and men. About all of the
permanent waters not invaded by white men and the white man’s stock
there are brakes of cane or carrizal (_Phragmites communis_?); the
jointed stems are half an inch to an inch in thickness and 8 to 25 feet
in height; the seeds are edible, while the stems form the material for
balsas and afford shafts for arrows, harpoons, fire-sticks, etc., and
the silica-coated joints may be used for incising tough tissues.
The coasts of Seriland, both insular and mainland, are skirted by
zones of exceptionally luxuriant shrubbery, maintained chiefly by fog
moisture. Along the mountainous parts of the coast the zone is narrow
and indefinite, but on the plains portions it extends inland for
several miles with gradually fading characters; this is especially true
in the southern portion of Desierto Encinas, where the fog effects may
be observed in the vegetation 12 or 15 miles from the coast. Most of
the fog fed species are identical with those of the interior, though
the shrubs are more luxuriant and are otherwise distinctive in habit.
On the Tiburon side of gale-swept El Infiernillo, and to some extent
along other parts of the coast, some of these shrubs (notably _Maytenus
phyllanthroides_) grow in dense hedge-like or mat-like masses, often
yards in extent and permanently modeled by the wind in graceful
dune-like shapes. Somewhat farther inland the flatter coastwise zones
of Tiburon are rather thickly studded with shrubby clumps from 6 inches
to 2 feet high, made up of _Frankenia palmeri_ with half a dozen minor
communals; while still farther inland follows the prevailing Sonoran
flora of mesquite, scrubby paloverde, and chaparral (_Celtis pallida_),
etc., only a little more luxuriant than the normal.
Throughout Seriland proper, and especially in the interior valleys
of Tiburon, grasses are more prevalent than in other portions of the
Sonoran province, their abundance doubtless being due to the rarity of
graminivorous animals during recent centuries.
FAUNA
Considered collectively, the fauna of the Sonoran province is
measurably distinctive (though less so than the flora), especially in
the habits of the organisms. The prevailing animals, like the plants
of extraneous type, evidently represent genera and species developed
under more humid conditions and adjusted to the arid province through a
long-continued and severe process of adaptation; and no fundamentally
distinct orders or types comparable with the cacti and torotes of
the vegetal realm are known. The prime requisite of animal life in
the province is ability to dispense with drinking, either habitually
or for long intervals, and to maintain structure and function in the
heated air despite the exceptionally small consumption of water;
the second requisite is ability to cooperate in the marvelously
complete solidarity of animal and vegetal life characteristic of
subdesert regions. No systematic studies have been made of special
structures in the animal bodies adapting them to retention of liquids,
either by storage (as in the stomach of the camel) or by diminished
evaporation, though the prevalence of practically nonperspiring
mammals, scale-covered reptiles, and chitin-coated insects suggests the
selection, if not the development, of the fitter genera and species
for the peculiar environment. Much more conspicuous are the characters
connected with cooperation in the ever severe but never eliminative
strife for existence in the sub-desert solidarity; the mammals are
either exceptionally swift like the antelope, exceptionally strong
like the local lion, exceptionally pugnacious and prolific like the
peccary, or exceptionally capable of subsisting on waterless sierras
like the bura and mountain goat; the reptiles are either exceptionally
swift like the rainbow-hued lizards, exceptionally armed like the
sluggish horned toads, exceptionally venomous like the rattlesnake,
or exceptionally repulsive, if not poisonous, like the Gila monster;
even the articulates avoid the mean, and are exceptionally swift,
exceptionally protective in form and coloring, exceptionally venomous
like the tarantula and scorpion and centipede, or exceptionally
intelligent like the farmer ant and the tarantula-hawk; while there is
apparently a considerable class of insects completely dependent on the
cooperation of plants for the perpetuation of their kind, including the
yucca moth and (undescribed) cactus beetle. Among plants the intense
individuality (which is the obverse of the enforced solidarity) is
expressed in thorns and heavily lacquered seeds and toxic principles;
among animals it is expressed by chitinous armament, as well as by
fleetness and fangs and deadly venom.
The larger land animals of Seriland proper are the mountain goat in
the higher sierras, the bura (or mule-deer) and the white-tail deer on
the mid-height plains and larger alluvial fans, with the antelope on
the lower and drier expanses. Associated with these are the ubiquitous
coyote, a puma, a jaguar of much local repute which roams the higher
rocky sites, and a peccary ranging from the coast over the alluvial
fans and mid-height plains of the mainland (though it is apparently
absent from Tiburon). Of the smaller mammals the hare (or jack-rabbit)
and rabbit are most conspicuous, while a long-tail nocturnal squirrel
abounds, its burrows and tunnels penetrating the plains of finer
debris so abundantly as to render these plains, especially on Tiburon,
impassable for horses and nearly so for men. The California quail
and the small Sonoran dove are fairly common; a moderate number of
small birds haunt the more humid belts, and there is a due proportion
of Mexican eagles and hawks of two or three forms, with still more
numerous vultures. Ants abound, dominating the insect life, while wasps
and spiders, with various flies and midges, gather about the vital
colonies of the drier plains and swarm in the moister belts. Horned
toads and various lizards—bright-colored and swift, or earth-tinted
and sluggish—are fairly abundant, while black-tail rattlesnakes haunt
the more luxuriant vegetation of fog zones, permanent waters, and
cienegas. On the whole, the land fauna of Seriland is much like that
of the province in general, though the various forms of life are less
abundant than the average, since all (except the abounding squirrel)
are sought for food by the omnivorous Seri; and the distribution, even
when relatively abundant, is woefully sparse, as befits the scant and
scattered vegetal foundation for the animal life.
Strongly contrasted with the meagerness of the land fauna is the
redundant aquatic fauna of that portion of the gulf washing the shores
of Seriland. Tiburon island is named from the sharks, said by some
explorers to have been seen by thousands along its coasts; these
voracious feeders find ample food in literal shoals and swarms of
smaller fishes; a not inconsiderable number of whales have survived the
early fisheries (one, estimated at 80 feet in length, was stranded in
Rada Ballena about 1887); while schools of porpoises play about Boca
Infierno and elsewhere, making easy prey of slower swimmers caught in
the tide-rips and gale-swept breakers. Proportionately abundant and
varied is the crustacean life; littoral mollusks cling to the ledges
exposed along all the rocky coast stretches, and the entire beach from
Punta Antigualla to Punta Ygnacio is banded by a practically continuous
bank of wave-cast molluscan shells, the shell-drift being often yards
in width and many inches in depth. Common crabs abound in many of the
coves, and a large lobster-like crab frequently comes up from deeper
bights and bottoms; oysters attach themselves to rocks and to the roots
of shrubby trees skirting protected bays like Rada Ballena, while
clams are numerous in all broad mud-flats, such as those of Laguna
la Cruz; and the pearl oyster was fished for centuries toward Punta
Tepopa, until the ferocity of the Seri put an end to the industry.
Especially abundant and large are the green turtles on which the Seri
chiefly subsist, leaving the shells scattered along the shore and about
rancherias in hundreds; while two land tortoises (_Gopherus agassizii_
and _Cinosternum sonorense_) range about the margins of the lagoons,
and one of these is alleged to enter the water freely.
The abundance of water-fowl is commensurate with that of the submarine
life. The pelican leads the avifauna in prominence if not in actual
numbers, breeding on Isla Tassne (Pelican island), and periodically
patrolling the whole of Bahia Kunkaak and El Infiernillo in lines and
platoons of military regularity; gulls are always in sight, and the
cormorant is common; while different ducks haunt several of the islets,
and the shores are promenaded by curlews, snipes, and other waders.
There is a corresponding wealth of plankton, which at low spring tide
with offshore gale covers acres of shallow littoral with squirming or
inert but always slimy life, the substratum for that of higher order;
and jellyfish and echinoids are cast up by nearly every wave, while
at night the surf rolls up the smooth strands in shimmering lines of
phosphorescent light. On the whole, the aquatic life teems in tropic
luxuriance and more than ordinary littoral variety; for the waters of
the gulf are warmed by radiation and conduction from its sun-parched
basin, while the concentrated tides distribute and stimulate the
species and keep the vital streams astir.
LOCAL FEATURES
Considered as a tribal habitat, Seriland comprises four subdivisions
of measurably distinct character, viz., (1) the broad desert bounding
the territory on the east; (2) the mountainous zone of Sierra Seri;
(3) Tiburon island and the neighboring islets; and (4) the navigable
straits and bays contiguous to island and mainland.
1. So far as its marginal portions are concerned, Desierto Encinas is
a typical valley of the Sonoran province, sparsely dotted with vital
colonies of the prevailing type and variegated by the exceptionally
luxuriant mesquite forests of the Bacuache and Sonora fans; but the
interior of the valley is rendered distinct by the fact that it lies
near, if not below, the level of the sea.[11] The central feature
is Playa Noriega—a film of brackish water for a few days after each
considerable semiannual freshet, a sheet of saline mud for a few weeks
later, and for the greater part of the year a salt-crusted sherd 20
square miles in area, level as a floor and unimpressionable as a brick
pavement. The playa is rimmed by dunes 10 to 40 feet in height, and
about these and along the arroyos which occasionally break into it
there is some aggregation of salt-enduring shrubs, evidently sustained
in part by the semiannual freshet with its meager vapors and fogs.
Outside this rim the surface is exceptionally broken; low dunes and
irregularly wandering banks of soft and dust fine sand are interspersed
with meandering salt flats much like the central playa, ranging from a
few feet in width and a few yards in length up to mappable dimensions,
as in the lesser playa lying east of the great one; and many of the
dustbanks are honeycombed with squirrel burrows. This annulus of broken
surface is narrow on the west, soon passing into okatilla scrub and
then into the saguesa forests of the eastern base of Sierra Seri; on
the east it is miles in breadth, passing gradually into the normal
Sonoran plain; on the south it widens still farther, stretching all
the way to Arenales de Gil and Pozo Escalante, and merging into the
playa-like mud-flats bordering Laguna la Cruz, into which the gulf
waters are sometimes forced by southwesterly gales at high spring
tides. Throughout this portion of the desert, marine shells are
scattered over the playa-like flats or lodged in the adjacent banks,
sometimes in great beds; the vegetation is scantier than usual and
largely of salt-loving habit; the mud-flats are usually coated with
saline and alkaline crusts, while the dunes are soft and fluffy, and
expand into broad belts perforated with the tunnels of the surprisingly
abundant rodents. Across this plain of bitter sand-dust lie the two
hard land routes to Seriland—the supposed Escalante route of 1700, down
the fan of Rio Bacuache and thence by Barranca Salina; and the Encinas
route, down the northern border of the Rio Sonora fan and thence by
Pozo Escalante to the shores of Bahia Kino.[12]
[11] The expedition of 1895, during which Seriland was surveyed, was
not provided with apparatus for accurate vertical measurement, and
hence altitudes were only approximately determined. The determinations
by Mr Johnson, who executed the topographic surveys, indicated that
even the lowest part of the valley is somewhat above sea-level; but
other facts indicate that it actually lies below the level of the
waters of the gulf, and forms a miniature homologue of Colorado desert
(in southern California): in the first place the central playa, which
is undoubtedly flooded occasionally if not semiannually, does not
embouch into, and has no channels extending toward, the sea; in the
second place it is highly saline; again, the alluvial fans of Rio
Bacuache and (especially) of Rio Sonora are so placed as to intercept
and dam the trough occupied by Laguna la Cruz in its southern portion,
and Playa Noriega in its northern portion; concordantly, the detail
configuration of the coast indicates marine transgression, apparently
due to secular subsidence of the land—though the abundant marine shells
of recent species toward the valley-bottom attest recent displacement
of the sea. On the whole, the facts seem to indicate that, during
recent geologic times, the lower portion of this valley was a shallow
gulf extending northward (and probably also southward) from the eastern
limit of Bahia Kino; that the importation and deposition of sediment,
chiefly by Rio Sonora, outran the secular subsidence of the land so
far as to displace the waters of the gulf in its central portion and
to separate the northern arm from the sea; and that the waters of this
northern arm were subsequently evaporated, disappearing finally in the
central playa in which local inflow and evaporation are balanced by the
usual mechanism of interior basins.
[12] Both the routes were traversed by the expedition of 1895, the
former from the headwaters of Rio Bacuache to the upper portion of its
alluvial fan, and then from the abandoned Rancho Libertad on the lower
portion of the fan across Desierto Encinas by way of Barranca Salina.
In the northern crossing a light vehicle (the first to traverse this
portion of the desert), drawn by four horses and aided by several
horsemen, was taken from Rancho Libertad across the northern portion of
Playa Noriega and thence up Arroyo Mitchell to a point midway between
Barranca Salina and Johnson peak, and was brought back over the same
route. The Encinas trail from Rancho San Francisco de Costa Rica was
traversed four times each way by the same outfit, and once each way by
the running gear of a heavy wagon carrying the rude craft (about 1,000
pounds in weight) in which the Seri waters were navigated, this vehicle
being drawn by 8 to 12 horses, frequently changed. Typical aspects of
both routes are shown in plate III, the upper figure representing the
Encinas trail and the lower a distant view of Sierra Seri, taken from
Playa Noriega, in the depths of Desierto Encinas.
Desierto Encinas is an impossible human habitat in any proper sense; it
is merely a broad and hardly passable boundary between habitats. The
hardy stock of the frontier ranchos, pasturing partly on the thorny
fruit of the cholla, push far out on the plains, and are sometimes
watered for short periods, under strong guards of heavily armed
vaqueros, at Barranca Salina; yet the greater part of the expanse is
trodden only by the Seri. Two or three ruined frames of Seri jacales
and a few graves crown the low knoll near Pozo Escalante, and there
are one or two house remnants near Barranca Salina; these are notable
not only as the easternmost remaining outposts of Seri occupancy, but
because they represent the only known instances in all Seriland of the
erection of even temporary houses adjacent to water. Distinct paths,
trodden deep by bare Seri feet, radiate from both waters toward the
Seriland interior, but no traceable trails extend eastward.
The southern limit of Desierto Encinas is marked either by the broad
mud-flats opening into Laguna la Cruz or by the coast of the gulf,
the coast cutting the lower portions of the plain being accentuated
by a sand-bank 30 or 40 feet high, against which the surf thunders
in nearly continuous roar, audible halfway or all the way to Pozo
Escalante. A Seri trail skirts the crest of this bank, sending
occasional branches into the interior. At Punta Antigualla the bank
expands and rises into a great mammillated shell-mound nearly 100
feet high, with several of the cusps occupied by more or less ruined
jacales; and occasionally occupied houses occur midway thence to the
southernmost point of Sierra Seri, and again at the base of the first
spur east of Punta Ygnacio. Beyond Punta Antigualla the sweep of the
waves is stronger than in Bahia Kino, and the coastal sand-bank is
generally higher. Between the rocky buttresses of Punta Ygnacio and
the next spur eastward the sand-ridge rises fully 50 feet above mean
low tide, and here, as elsewhere, its verge is protected by a fog-fed
chaparral thicket with occasional clumps of okatilla and other cacti.
Behind the coast barrier lie lagoon-like basins, generally dry and
floored with saline silt-beds, though sometimes occupied by briny
pools formed through seepage during southwesterly gales; and there are
physiographic indications that the northwestward extension of Laguna la
Cruz formerly stretched some miles farther than now and lay in the rear
of Punta Antigualla in such wise as to form a source of supply of the
clam-shells of which the eminence is built.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. III
SERI FRONTIER]
[Illustration: SIERRA SERI FROM ENCINAS DESERT]
2. Sierra Seri is a double range, divided mid-length by a broad saddle
barely 2,000 feet in height.[13] Like other Sonoran ranges, the nucleal
portions are exceedingly rugged and precipitous—at least two of its
picachos shoot so boldly that they commonly seem to overhang, and have
been called leaning peaks. In large part the precipices rise abruptly
from a symmetrical dome molded by sheetflooding, much as the insulated
buttes rise from the Bacuache fan in northeastern Seriland; so that the
tract lying between Desierto Encinas and El Infiernillo is a composite
of exceptionally precipitous and exceptionally smooth mountain slopes.
One of the Seri trails radiating from Barranca Salina lies across the
mid-sierra saddle; others push into several mountain valleys, and the
largest leads to Tinaja Trinchera, at the base of Johnson peak, where
there are a few low walls of loose-laid rubble, somewhat like those
of the trincheras (entrenched mountains) farther eastward—the only
structures of the sort seen in Seriland. Toward the southern end of
the range lie various trails, the most conspicuous paralleling the
coast, either near the shore or over the steep salients, according
to the configuration; while here and there ruinous jacales a few
yards from the coast attest sporadic habitation. The eastern shore of
Bahia Kunkaak from Punta Ygnacio northward reveals a typical geologic
section of the Sonoran province: the transgressing waves have carved
in the granitic subterrane a broad shelf lying just below mean low
tide and usually stretching several furlongs offshore; this shelf
is relieved here and there by remnantal crags of obdurate rocks,
cumbered by bowlders and locally sheeted with sand and arkose derived
from mechanically disintegrated granite; while the inner margin of
the shelf is a sea-cliff, usually 30 to 50 feet high, of which the
lower half is commonly granite and the upper half unconsolidated and
recent-looking mechanical debris collected by sheetflood erosion.
Sometimes the granite of the subterrane is replaced by volcanics;
sometimes ancient and firmly cemented talus deposits separate the
superficial mantle from the subterrane, as shown in the lower part
of plate V; sometimes the line of sheetflood planation passes below
tide-level, when the waves beat against the unconsolidated deposits in
a deep embayment; sometimes the sharply defined planation surface ends
abruptly at the sides of subranges or buttes shooting upward in the
abrupt slopes characteristic of the sierra proper; yet this 10-mile
stretch of coast is a nearly continuous revelation of the structure of
sheetflood-carved plains and of modern marine transgression. The debris
of the combined processes forms an abundant and varied assortment of
bowlders, cobbles, and pebbles, whence the inhabitants readily derive
their simple implements without need for studied forethought or manual
cunning.
[13] The northern portion, as seen from the east, is shown in plate
III; the southern portion, as seen from the west, appears in the upper
part of plate IV, while the southwesternmost point is shown in the
lower part of the same plate.
The long sand-spit terminating in Punta Miguel and the shorter one
terminating in Punta Arena are the product of geologically recent
wave building, and consist of irregular series of V-bars, backed by
lagoon-like basins and enclosing considerable bodies of brine in
the central portions; and the bars and basins become successively
higher outward, in such wise as to attest the secular subsidence of
this coast. Several jacales are located on the higher portion of the
southern sand-spit, midway between Punta Granita and Punta Miguel,
while footpaths traverse the flat and skirt the coast. Toward the
terminal portion of the spit the sand is blown into hummocks, held
by clumps of salt-enduring and sand-proof shrubbery; but there are
no rancherias here, despite the fact that it is a natural point of
embarkation—doubtless because no Seri structure could withstand the
sand-drifting gales and storm inundations of this exposed spot.
The more protected lagoons behind the outer bars harbor abundant
waterfowl, within bowshot of shrub-clumps and dunes well adapted to
the concealment of hunters, while the mud-flats open to the tide
abound in clams and other edible things. The features of the Punta
Miguel sand-spit are repeated with variations along the eastern shore
of El Infiernillo; and Seri jacales, evidently designed for temporary
occupancy, occur here and there, usually on higher banks above reach of
the severer storms.
3. Tiburon island itself is apparently the chosen home of the
Seri—a habitat to which the mainland tract is at once a dependency,
an alternative refuge, and a circumvallation. Its dominant range,
Sierra Kunkaak, mates Sierra Seri in its essential features, though
the rocks are for the greater part ordinarily obdurate eruptives
rather than exceptionally obdurate granites, as in the mainland
sierra; accordingly the range is somewhat lower and broader, while
the sheetflood sculpture, with its sharp transition into precipitous
cliffs, is somewhat less trenchant. Sierra Menor is a third term in
the mountain series, in structure and geomorphy as in altitude; while
the interior plain is a homologue of that portion of Desierto Encinas
lying north of Playa Noriega—i. e., of its (potentially) free-drained
portion. Almost the entire perimeter of Tiburon is suffering marine
transgression, and is faced with seacliffs overlooking wave-carved
shelves; and in both form and structure the greater part of the coast
repeats, with minor variations, the features of the mainland coast
from Punta Ygnacio northward. Partly because of the superior magnitude
and height of its debris-yielding sierra, partly because of protection
from the wave-beat of the open gulf, the eastern shore is skirted
with a talus-shape slope, usually two to four miles wide; and while
there are unmistakable evidences of sheetflood carving in the higher
portions of this plane, the coastal cliff commonly reveals nothing
but heterogeneous debris, sometimes rising thirty or forty feet above
tide. Somewhat the greater part of the volume of this debris is fine—i.
e., sand and silt and nondescript rock-matter; but there is always a
considerable element of larger rock-fragments, which gather along the
shore in a pavement of bowlders and cobbles (upper figure of plate V).
These coarse materials—important factors in aboriginal industry—are
harmoniously distributed; more conspicuously on the ground than on
the map, the coast is set with salients (of which Punta Narragansett
is a type), consisting merely of exceptional accumulations of debris
from gorges in the sierra and from shallow arroyos, or pebble washes,
traversing the coastwise plain. These salients owe their prominence
partly to the relative coarseness, partly to the abundant supply, of
fragmental material from the heights; and about their extremities the
beach is paved with bowlders, which grade to cobbles or even to pebbles
along the reentrant shores on either hand. This distribution of cobbles
is one of the conditions governing the placement of Seri rancherias;
and in many cases the jacales are located, either singly or in groups,
where the coastal salients and reentrants meet, and where there is an
abundant supply of cobbles of convenient size and wave-tested hardness.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE IV.
SIERRA SERI FROM TIBURON ISLAND]
[Illustration: PUNTA YGNACIO, TIBURON BAY]
The coastwise plain skirting eastern Tiburon has a few wave-built
projections analogous to those east of El Infiernillo; the most
conspicuous of these are Punta Tormenta, Punta Tortuga, and Punta
Perla with its tide-swept extensions, Bajios de Ugarte. All of these
are located primarily by sierra-fed arroyos, but all are greatly
extended by wave-borne material laid down along lines determined by
the prevailing currents of this best-protected portion of the coast.
The long outer face of Punta Tormenta, shaped by the storms of Bahia
Kunkaak, is strikingly regular and symmetric; its broad extremity and
inner face are diversified by subordinate bars and lagoons, evidently
tending to connect with the main coast toward Punta Tortuga, and
thereby to transform the whole of Rada Ballena into a lagoon. Already
the narrow embayment is so shallow that, although a comfortable haven
at high tide, it is mostly mud-flat and sand-waste at extreme low
tide—a condition which explains the stranding of an 80-foot whale in
this treacherous harbor about 1887. The rada is between two and three
miles in length. It abounds in marine life of kinds preferring quieter
waters: clams are plentiful in its mud-flats, a sponge lines portions
of the bottom toward its inner extremity, oysters cluster numerously
on bowlders and on the mangrove-like roots and trunks of a large shrub
along the outer shore, and various fishes find refuge here from the
fierce currents and the hungry sharks and porpoises of the open strait;
these and other creatures form food for innumerable waders and other
water-fowl that seek shelter in the quiet bay, which is still further
protected by salt-enduring shrubbery on the bars of the point and by
the shrubby thickets and wave-cast banks and wind-built dunes on the
mainland side.
The combination of conditions renders this portion of the Tiburon coast
the optimum habitat of the Seri Indians. There are, indeed, no houses
or other traces of permanent habitation on Punta Tormenta itself,
which is not only swept by gales but must sometimes be inundated by
gale-driven waters at high spring tide; but at the inner end of the
long sand-spit, and also on the mainland opposite the outer portion of
Rada Ballena, there are extensive and well-kept rancherias, capacious
enough to accommodate comfortably thirty or forty Seri families, i.
e., 150 or 200 persons. Toward its landward end the sand-spit is built
largely of pebbles and cobbles, of which thousands of tons are adapted
to industrial use; sea-food is practically unlimited and is readily
taken; water-fowl literally crowd the protected rada within arrow-shot
of natural cover; the outer slope of the bar is admirably suited for
landing and embarking balsas in calm weather, while the bay is an
ideal harbor for the portable craft, and the shrub-grown shores give
unlimited opportunity for concealing them when not in use; the dunes
and banks are high enough to protect the low jacales from storm-winds,
while the abundant sponges and turtle-shells afford material for
thatching and shingling the more exposed walls and roofs; and finally,
it is but a favorite distance (about 4 miles) to the permanent fresh
water of Tinaja Anita. From this Seri metropolis well-trod trails
radiate toward all other parts of the island; the best beaten leads
to the tinaja, sending branches into all the neighboring gorges, in
which game is sometimes taken; next best-worn is the trail laid across
Sierra Kunkaak to strike Arroyo Carrizal mid-length of its permanently
wet portion; others pass northward to rancherias at different points
on the coast, and still another skirts the coast southward by several
smaller rancherias to the considerable jacal collection near Punta
Narragansett—this, like other longshore routes, having alternative
trails, the evanescent fair-weather one following the beach, while
the permanent path threads the thorn-set thickets marking the crest
of the sea-cliff or cuts across the longer salients. The Narragansett
rancheria is also a center for radiating trails, the best-beaten
of these leading toward the fresh waters of Tinaja Anita and Arroyo
Carrizal; and even the rancherias half-way thence to Punta Mashém
send their most permanent paths over 15 miles of intervening ranges
and spall-strewn valleys toward the same waters. According to
Mashém’s cautious statements, there is a minor Seri metropolis at
the northwestern spur of Sierra Kunkaak, within reach of Pozo Hardy
and Arroyo Agua Dulce, and two or three smaller rancherias along the
western shore; but these were not reached by the 1895 expedition.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. V
WESTERN SHORE OF TIBURON BAY]
[Illustration: EASTERN SHORE OF TIBURON BAY]
4. The seas washing Seriland are notably troubled by tides and winds.
Gaping toward the Pacific, and narrowing and shoaling for the 800 miles
of its length (measured from midway between Islas de Tres Marias and
Cabo San Lucas), Gulf of California approaches Bay of Fundy, Bristol
channel, and Broad sound as a tide accumulator; while the semidiurnal
sweep of the waters in the upper half of the gulf is conditioned by the
constriction of the basin to a fraction of its average cross-section at
the narrows between Isla Tiburon and Punta San Francisquito. Toward the
head of the gulf the ordinary spring tides range from 20 to 25 feet,
and may be much increased by favoring winds; the debacles culminate
there, but the currents culminate off Seriland in the great tide-gate
half dammed by the islands of Tiburon, San Esteban, San Lorenzo, and
Salsipuedes,[14] with their marine buttresses, and through the breaches
of Pasaje Ulloa, Estrecho Alarcon, and Canal de Salsipuedes flow, four
times daily, some two or three cubic miles of water in tremendous tidal
floods, probably unsurpassed in vigor elsewhere on the globe. Naturally
the islands and the adjacent coasts afford extraordinary examples of
marine transgression; and while exceptional wave-work is a factor, the
transgression is undoubtedly due mainly to the extraordinary tidal
currents in this gateway of the gulf. The fierce currents and the
frequent storms of the region condition local navigation, and have
undoubtedly contributed to the development of the peculiarly light,
strong, and serviceable water-craft of the aboriginal navigators among
the islands.
[14] Originally the name Islas Sal-si-puedes (Get-out-if-canst) was
applied to the various islands of this gateway of the gulf, including
San Lorenzo, San Esteban, and San Agustin (now Tiburon), together with
the smaller islets, as shown in the map of Padre Fernando Consag (in
Noticia de la California y de su Conquista, etc., por el Padre Miguel
Venegas, 1757, tomo III, p. 194); and Padre Consag’s account of the
currents encountered in 1746 explains the designation: “The great sea
which runs here even in fair weather would not allow us to stay, and it
was with great difficulty we took in a little water. We now attempted
to weather the Cape of San Gabriel de Sal-si-puedes, so greatly dreaded
by seamen on account of those islands, several contiguous points of
land and many ledges of sunken rocks extending a great way from the
land. Here the sea is so agitated by the current that a gale or a calm
makes but little difference” (English translation of Venegas’ Noticia,
titled A Natural and Civil History of California, 1759, vol. II, pp.
312-313). Hittell speaks of “the group of islands known as Salsipuedes,
the largest of which is now called Tiburon” (History of California,
1898, vol. I, p. 225). Dewey restricted the name to a single small
island near the Baja California coast. Further references to the
islands and their designations are noted postea, p. 65.
El Infiernillo derives its distinctive characteristics largely from
the local character of the tides. Bahia Kunkaak is a funnel-shape
embayment so placed as to catch half the volume of the incoming tide
and to concentrate the flow into a bore hurtling through Boca Infierno
and thence throughout the shoaling strait with greatly accelerated
velocity; meantime the body of the tidal stream is diverted around
Tiburon, and then enfeebled in its northward flow by the expansion
of the gulf above the Tiburon-San Francisquito gateway, so that the
entire strait is flooded (to the limit fixed by the capacity of Boca
Infierno) before the main tide flows into its head past Isla Patos and
through Bahia Tepopa; and with this unobstructed inflow the strait
is reflooded with a counterbore, whereby the waters are heaped and
pounded into an unstable, swirling, churning mass.[15] The flooding
is little less than catastrophic in magnitude and suddenness; indeed,
the volume of water in the body of the strait between Punta Perla and
Boca Infierno is approximately doubled at neap tide and tripled at
spring tide twice in each twenty-four hours. Then, as the crest of the
main debacle advances into the upper gulf beyond Punta Tepopa, the
trough of the ebb is already approaching the Tiburon-San Francisquito
constriction; and even before the final flooding of El Infiernillo from
the north is completed, the waters of Bahia Kunkaak are receding and a
tiderip is tearing through Boca Infierno at a rate sufficient to half
empty the reservoir of its accumulated volume before the ebb trough
has rounded the island to the head of the strait. Thus the effect
of the exceptional tides of the gulf and the peculiar configuration
of Seriland is to concentrate and accentuate tidal currents in El
Infiernillo, and to convert the channel into a raceway for nearly
continuous tide rips. According to Dewey, the spring tides are 10 feet
and the neaps 7 feet about the northern end of the strait;[16] in
December, 1895, the tides about Punta Blanca and Punta Granita were
roughly determined as 13 or 14 feet at spring and 7 or 8 at neap, the
range varying considerably with the direction and force of the wind;
and the consequent current through Boca Infierno was estimated at 4
to 8 miles per hour, the higher velocity of course coinciding with
the spring tide. The change in direction of the current is almost
instantaneous—indeed, the run is in opposite directions on opposite
sides of the narrow strait when the wind sets obliquely—so that the
tidal flow is practically continuous. The currents are of course
slacker in the body of the strait, but even here suffice to transport
coarse sediments; and it is to this agency that the “shoals and sand
spits” noted by Dewey[17] and the maintenance of a deep channel through
Boca Infierno are chiefly to be ascribed. The materials of Punta
Tormenta and Punta Tortuga attest the transportation of pebbles up
to 3 or 4 inches in diameter by the combined work of waves and tidal
currents.
[15] Unquestionably the clearest view of El Infiernillo ever enjoyed
by Caucasian eyes was that of Messrs Johnson and Mitchell from the
culminating point of Sierra Seri (Johnson peak), which they occupied
for about twenty-three hours on December 7 and 8, 1895. Mr Johnson’s
notes on the appearance of the strait are as follows: “On the occasion
of the ascent of Sierra Seri, which rises from the coast, shutting
off the view of Isla Tiburon from the desert on the east, I received
a striking impression of the elaborate and beautifully symmetrical
plan of the long swirling currents of El Infiernillo. The climb had
been made from the east direct to the summit peak, so that the first
sight of both island and gulf was not only from close at hand, but
from an elevation of about a mile. The crest of the ridge was reached
at the instant of sunset, and the spectacle of the innumerable
current-markings was brief. Our position was nearly opposite the
northern end of the strait; and its elevation was so great that the
opposite mainland and island shorelines were seen in map effect rather
than in perspective. The entire strait, to its northern end at Punta
Perla, was in the shadow of the island; and the current design was
revealed only in the shadow. At the shadow-margin extending from the
northern tip of the island the lines were sharply cut off; and beyond,
along the westward bend of waters forming Bahia Tepopa and opening into
the gulf in full sunlight, there was no suggestion of them. Within the
shadow the effect was that of a film of oil on a water-surface which
had been stirred and allowed to come to rest—though the regularity
of the lines was as though the stirring had been orderly. Not the
slightest motion was perceptible from the peak during the minute or
two that the spectacle lasted before the sun disappeared and twilight
fell, though the suggestion from configuration alone was that of
violent swirling. The general movement was evidently southward toward
Boca Infierno, and the swirls were apparently the result of frictional
resistance along both shores; the system of curving lines as a whole
was very much that which would be presented by a broad feather thrust
into a bottle. There were central lines in great number, somewhat
sinuous though never crossing, diverging one by one toward the shores
on either hand, where they curved backward with complex interferences
in large reversing arcs and many minute circlings. The straightening
out of the curves in perspective was quite perceptible toward Boca
Infierno, and beyond it was pronounced. The air appeared to be still,
so that the current pattern was not at all obscured by waves; and the
spectacle of the broad strait, appearing almost beneath me, incised
with a crowded design of sweeping fine lines, the delicate clearness
of which recalled a steel engraving, was peculiarly impressive.
That we had been fortunate in the moment of reaching the summit was
apparent next day. The spectacle was, indeed, repeated at sunrise
and for a short period thereafter, though the general design was
markedly different, and less intricacy of pattern was discernible,
while the general effect was comparatively vague; perhaps the shadow
of Sierra Seri was too heavy, or, more probably (as was my impression
at the time), our position was not favorable for that direction of
illumination. In full light during the day up to the hour of our
departure in late afternoon, no hint or vestige of the current design
remained. It was evident that the lines were brought out with especial
clearness by the favorable illumination and comparative stillness of
air; and it was particularly evident that the lines marked movements in
the water, even if there were corresponding air-currents, since they
harmonized perfectly with the configuration of the shores and with
the trend of spits and bars and offshore markings seen through the
shallow waters, especially toward the northern end of the strait. The
accord between shore curves and the current lines seen in the evening
indicated a southward motion much more vigorous than the reverse
movement witnessed next morning; for the marked variation in the design
noted in the morning was of a character strongly suggesting a reversed
movement of the water, while the faintness of the markings then may
perhaps have been due to comparative feebleness of current rather than
to unfavorable lighting. Certainly the close agreement between the
elaborate system of markings, so clearly revealed in the evening, and
the prevailing curves of the shores would seem to indicate unmistakably
that, whatever the direction and strength of flow, the markings were a
product of current motion.”
[16] Publication No. 56, U. S. Hydrographic Office, Bureau of
Navigation, 1880, p. 142.
[17] Op. cit., p. 143.
Like other mountain-bound water bodies, the portion of the gulf washing
Seriland is exceptionally disturbed by winds of given velocity by
reason of the high angle of incidence; and moreover the exceptionally
prominent local configuration disturbs the atmospheric currents in
a manner somewhat analogous to that in which the tidal currents are
disturbed; so that the winds are highly variable but generally strong.
Under the combined action of tide and wind the waters are normally
ruffled; choppy seas freely flecked with whitecaps are rather the rule
than the exception,[18] and are replaced less frequently by calms
than by steadier billows breaking in continuous surf on sand-beaches
(figure 5) and dashing into foam-flecked and rainbow-tinted spray-jets,
bathing the rocky cliffs for 50 feet above their bases. Sometimes
the wind stills suddenly, when the sea sinks to rhythmic swells,
soon extinguished by reaction from the irregular shores and by the
interference of tide-currents; but the swell seldom dies away before
the gale springs again. The broad valley between Sierras Seri and
Kunkaak, bottomed by El Infiernillo, is especially beset by fierce
and capricious gales; the general atmospheric drift is disturbed by
the leading and lesser sierras, as well as by temperature convection
from the gulf, and eddies are developed in such wise as to send
air-currents directly or obliquely up or down the valley. These local
or sublocal winds are characteristic. Judging from observations
covering several weeks, the valley is wind-swept longitudinally for
an average of eighteen or twenty hours daily, the winds ranging from
strong breezes to gales so stiff as to load the air with sand ashore
and spray asea; and even the calms may be broken any minute by sudden
gusts and williwaws, passing rapidly as they arrive. Not only waves
but wind itself combines with tides to shape the structural features
of the valley; nowhere within it do flour-fine sands like those of
Desierto Encinas occur, save as a hardly perceptible constituent of the
dunes and banks of coarser sand—they have been blown into the sea or
beyond the limits of the valley. Throughout the strait so expressively
named by its explorers, the capriciousness of the sea culminates,
despite the shoalness and the protection from easterly and westerly
winds; the storm currents and tide-currents are half the time opposed,
raising breakers even when the air is nearly still; eddies and whirls
and cross-currents arise constantly, and even at the stillest hours
tumultuous waves come and go sporadically, while about the mile-wide
boca the choppy sea sometimes takes the form of spire-like jets,
spurting 5 or 10 feet high and breaking into aigrettes of glittering
spray in most unwaterlike and wholly indescribable fashion. Dewey
described the strait as “unsafe for navigation by any except the
smallest class of vessels”; it is safe, indeed, only for portable and
indestructible craft like the Seri balsas, which may be put off or
carried ashore at will by craftsmen willing to wait for wind and tide,
and unpossessed of impedimenta of a sort to be injured by wetting. Of
such an environment the balsa is a natural product.
[18] A stiller and navigable condition of the sea is shown in the view
of Punta Ygnacio, plate IV.
[Illustration: FIG. 5—Embarking on Bahia Kunkaak in la lancha _Anita_.]
The adjunct islets of Seriland are miniatures of Tiburon in all
essential respects, save that they are without fresh water. The largest
is San Esteban, a somewhat complex butte rising sharply from the waters
in a nearly continuous sea-cliff recording vigorous work by storms and
tides; it is occasionally visited by the Seri, chiefly in search of
water-fowl and eggs. The most important of the series in Seri economy
and mythology is Isla Tassne, off the mouth of Bahia Kino; it is a
rugged butte some 600 feet high, rising in wave-cut cliffs on the sea
side and pedimented by low spits and banks of sand toward the lea;
the sand-banks are literally flocked with pelicans, while other fowl
cover the flatter ledges and crowd the crannies of the pinnacle. Isla
Turner is a somewhat smaller and still more rugged butte, bounded on
both sides by precipitous cliffs, while Roca Foca is merely a great
rock shelving upward from the storm-swept waters off the most exposed
angle of Tiburon; in the crannies of the former birds nest abundantly,
while the lower ledges of both are haunted by seals. Isla Patos, north
of Tiburon, is a breeding-place for different water-fowl, and is
especially noted as a refuge for ducks; it, too, is for the most part a
rocky butte, with a sandy shelf at the eastern base. Beyond San Esteban
lies the similar but smaller Isla San Lorenzo, while Isla Salsipuedes
and a few other islets stretch thence northward half way to the
southern point of Isla Angel de la Guarda, the second-largest island of
the gulf. San Lorenzo and the smaller islets are occasionally visited
by the Seri, partly for a mineral pigment used in face-painting,
partly in quest of game; and they sometimes push on to the larger
island to enjoy its fairly abundant game, including the easily taken
iguana, amid the ruins of an ancient culture apparently akin to that
of southern Mexico. Even the most frequented islets, Tassne and Patos,
can be reached only by crossing miles of open sea; but in their way the
Seri are as canny navigators as they are skilful boat-builders—it is
their habit to hug the shore in threatening weather, to await wind and
tide for hours or days together, to set out on distant journeys only
when all conditions favor, and in emergency to seize inspiration from
the storm like the vikings of old, and bend supernormal power to the
control of their craft.
* * * * *
Summarily, the prevailing features of Seriland may be said to be
characterized by extreme development or intensity, many of them being
of such sort as to be adequately described only by the aid of strong
comparatives or superlatives. Seriland is the most rugged portion of
piedmont Sonora, and is bounded by its most forbidding desert; the
territory is nearly if not quite, the most arid and inhospitable of
the Sonoran province; the diurnal and sporadic temperature-ranges
are apparently the widest, and the gales and other storms apparently
the severest of the entire province; the flora is among the most
meager and least fruitful, and the mountains are among the craggiest
of the continent; the tides are among the strongest and the tidal
currents among the swiftest of the world; and, as shown by the limited
direct observations and by the extraordinary marine transgression,
the waters are among the most turbulent known. At the same time, the
waters washing Seriland are among the richest of America in sea-food,
so that the habitat is one of the easiest known for a simple life
depending directly on the product of the sea. It is but natural that
these extreme factors of environment should be measurably reflected in
pronounced characteristics on the part of the inhabitants.
SUMMARY HISTORY
There is some doubt as to who was the first among the Caucasian
explorers of the Western Hemisphere to set eyes on the Seri Indians.
Nuño de Guzman, rival of Cortés and invader of Jalisco and Sinaloa,
must have approached the southern boundary of Seri territory about
1530, though there is no record of contact with these tribesmen. Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza, one of Cortés’ captains, coasted along southern
Sonora in 1532 to a point considerably beyond Rio Yaqui, where he was
massacred on his return, and hence left no record of more northerly
natives.[19] Both of these pioneers must accordingly be eliminated from
the list of probable discoverers of the Seri.
[19] Theodore H. Hittell, History of California, 1898, vol. I, pp.
43-44.
In the course of their marvelous transcontinental journey, Alvar
Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions also approached Seriland, and
apparently skirted its borders shortly before meeting Captain Diego
de Alcaraz, of Guzman’s party; this was in April, 1536, according to
Bandelier.[20] Vaca wrote: “On the coast is no maize: the inhabitants
eat the powder of rush and of straw, and fish that is caught in the sea
from rafts, not having canoes. With grass and straw the women cover
their nudity. They are a timid and dejected people.”[21] He added half
a dozen ambiguous sentences, of which only a part, apparently, refer to
the “timid and dejected people”; half of these describe a poison used
by them “so deadly that if the leaves be bruised and steeped in some
neighboring water, the deer and other animals drinking it soon burst”.
The people were identified as Seri (Ceris) by Buckingham Smith and
General Stone,[22] and the identification may be considered as strongly
probable, provided the Tepoka be classed with the Seri.
[20] Contributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the
United States (Hemenway Southwestern Archæological Expedition), Papers
of the Archæological Institute of America, American series, V, 1890, p.
44.
[21] Relation of Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca, translated from the
Spanish by Buckingham Smith; New York, 1871, p. 172.
[22] Ibid, p. 178.
The next Caucasians to approach Seriland appear to have been the two
Spanish monks, Fray Pedro Nadal and Fray Juan de la Asuncion, who, in
1538, sought to retrace Vaca’s route, and traveled northward to a river
somewhat doubtfully identified as the Gila;[23] but the meager accounts
of this journey contain no clear reference to the Seri Indians.
[23] Cf. Bandelier, Magazine of Western History, IV, 1886, p. 660.
On March 7-19, 1539, the Italian friar Marcos de Niza left San Miguel
de Culiacan under instructions from the Viceroy, Don Antonio de
Mendoza, to explore the territory traversed by Vaca, under the guidance
of the negro Estevanico, the only one of Vaca’s three companions
remaining in Mexico; in good time he reached a point probably not far
from the center of the present state of Sonora, whence messengers
were sent coastward to return duly accompanied by certain “very poor”
Indians wearing pearl-oyster (?) ornaments, who were reputed to inhabit
a large island (almost certainly Tiburon) reached from the mainland
by means of balsas. Bandelier identified these coastwise Indians with
the Guayma tribe, a supposed branch of the Seri;[24] but if the “large
island” were Tiburon, it would seem more probable that the Indians
belonged to the tribe now known as Seri, while both description and
location suggest the Tepoka. This record is of questionable weight,
partly by reason of the doubtful identification of the Indians, and
partly because the friar’s itinerary was found to be misleading by
his immediate successors, because of the fact that portions of his
narrative were based on hearsay; though it is just to note that
Bandelier, after critical study, deemed the record about as trustworthy
as others of the time, and to add that the disparagement of Niza’s
discoveries by his followers was in accord with the fashion of the
day—indeed it was little more severe relatively than the criticism of
the strikingly trustworthy Ulloa by his first follower, Alarcon.
[24] Ibid, pp. 661-663; Papers of the Archæological Institute of
America, American series, V, p. 118.
On July 8-19, 1539, according to the collection of Ramusio, three
vessels sent out by Cortés to discover unknown lands—“Of Which Fleete
was Captaine the right worshipfull knight Francis de Vlloa borne in
the Citie of Merida”—sailed from Acapulco.[25] Skirting the mainland
northwestward, they explored Mar de Cortés, or Gulf of California;
and on September 24 (as fixed by interpolation from Ulloa’s excellent
itinerary) they descried and described the features of the coast in
such fashion as to locate their vessels (one was already lost) off the
southern point of Tiburon, and in sight of the islands of San Esteban
and San Lorenzo, as well as locally prominent points on the mainland
of Lower California. Here they “discerned the countrey to be plaine,
and certaine mountaines, and it seemed that a certaine gut of water
like a brooke ran through the plaine” (p. 322). Judging from other
geographic details, this “gut of water” was certainly the tide-torn
gateway now named Boca Infierno; while the next day’s sailing (it is
noteworthy that this was “north” instead of northwestward as usual)
carried them by “a circuit or bay of 6 leagues into the land with
many coones or creeks”, evidently Bahia Tepopa with the northern end
of the turbulent strait El Infiernillo. The record shows clearly that
Ulloa discovered Tiburon, but failed (quite naturally, in view of the
route pursued and the peculiar configuration at both extremities of
the strait) to perceive its insular character. No mention is made of
inhabitants or habitations on this land-mass, though both are described
on the neighboring island of Angel de la Guarda in terms that would be
applicable to the Seri.
[25] The Voyages of the English Nation to America, collected by Richard
Hakluyt and edited by Edmund Goldsmid, 1890, vol. III, p. 317.
On Monday, February 23, 1540, according to Winship,[26] Captain-General
Francisco Vazquez Coronado set out on his ambitious and memorable
expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola. His course lay from
Compostela along the coast of Culiacan, and thence northward through
what is now Sinaloa and Sonora. On May 9-20, 1540, Hernando de Alarcon
set sail on the ancillary expedition by sea; he followed the coast from
Acapulco to Colorado river, and although he undoubtedly saw and was
the first to name Tiburon,[27] and claimed to have “discouered other
very good hauens for the ships whereof Captaine Francis de Vlloa was
General, for the Marquesse de Valle neither sawe nor found them”,[28]
he made no specific record of any of the features of Seriland or of
contact with the Seri Indians. Meantime Coronado’s forces were divided,
a considerable part of the army falling behind the leader; and some
time during the early summer the belated army, under Don Tristan de
Arellano, founded the town of San Hieronimo de los Corazones, which in
the following year (1541) was transferred to a place in Señora (Sonora)
not now identifiable. From Corazones Don Rodrigo Maldonado went down to
the seacoast to seek the ships, and brought back with him “an Indian
so large and tall that the best man in the army reached only to his
chest”, with reports of still taller Indians along the coast.[29] It is
impossible to locate Maldonado’s route with close accuracy, but in view
of geographic and other conditions it is evident (as recently shown
by Hodge[30]) that he must have descended Rio Sonora and approached
or reached the coast over the broad delta-plain of that stream south
of Sierra Seri, and thus within Seri territory. The reported gigantic
stature practically identifies the Indians visited by him with the
Seri, since no other gigantic tribes were consistently reported by
explorers of western North America, and since the 6-foot Seri warriors,
with their frequent Sauls of greater stature, are in fact gigantic in
comparison with the average Spanish soldiery of earlier centuries.
There are indications that the fame of these giants of the Southern sea
spread to Europe and filtered slowly throughout the intellectual world,
and that the fancy-clothed colossi grew with their travels, after the
manner of their kind—indeed, there is no slender reason for opining
that these half-mythical islanders were the real originals of Jonathan
Swift’s Brobdingnagians,[31] despite his location of their fabled land
a few degrees farther northward on the long-mysterious coast below the
elusive “Straits of Anian”.
[26] The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542, Fourteenth Annual Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology, 1896, p. 382.
[27] As a harbor or anchorage marked “del Tiburon” on the map of
“Domingo del Castillo, Piloto”, drawn in 1541, and reproduced in
Historia de Nueva-España, escrita por su esclarecido Conquistador
Hernán Cortés, aumentada con otras documentos, y notas, por el
ilustrissimo Señor Don Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, Arzobispo de
Mexico; Mexico, 1770, p. 328.
[28] The Voyages of the English Nation to America, vol. IV, p. 6.
[29] Winship, op. cit., p. 484.
[30] Coronado’s March to Quivira, in J. V. Brower, Harahey (Memoirs of
Explorations in the Basin of the Mississippi, vol. II), 1899, p. 36.
[31] Cf. The History of Oregon, California, and the other Territories
on the Northwest Coast of North America, by Robert Greenhow, 1845, p.
97; History of California, by Theodore H. Hittell, 1898, vol. I, p. 149.
About the middle of September, 1540, Captain Melchior Diaz, then in
command at Corazones, selected 25 men from the force remaining at that
point, and set out for the coast on what must have been one of the
most remarkable, as it is one of the least-known, expeditions in the
history of Spanish exploration; for he traversed either the streamless
coast or the hardly more hospitable interior through one of the most
utterly desert regions in North America, from the lower reaches of Rio
Sonora to the mouth of the Colorado. The record of this journey is
meager, ambiguous, and apparently inconsecutive; it indicates that he
encountered the Indian giants seen by Maldonado, but confused them with
the Indians of the Lower Colorado. On the return journey Diaz lost his
life through an accident, and his party reached Corazones on January
18, 1541, after encountering hostility from Indians not far from that
settlement. Word was sent to Coronado, then in winter quarters on the
Rio Grande, who dispatched Don Pedro de Tovar to the settlement for the
purpose of punishing the hostile natives; he, in turn, sent Diego de
Alcaraz with a force to seize the “chiefs and lords of a village”. This
Alcaraz did, but soon liberated his prisoners for a petty exchange.
“Finding themselves free, they renewed the war and attacked them, and
as they were strong and had poison, they killed several Spaniards and
wounded others so that they died on the way back.... They got back to
the town, leaving 17 soldiers dead from the poison. They would die
in agony from only a small wound, the bodies breaking out with an
insupportable pestilential stink.”[32]
[32] Winship, op. cit., p. 502.
The Coronado expedition had still further experience with (evidently)
the same Indians; for as the army approached Corazones on the return
a soldier was wounded, and was successfully treated, according to the
record, with the juice of the quince. “The poison, however, had left
its mark upon him. The skin rotted and fell off until it left the bones
and sinews bare, with a horrible smell. The wound was in the wrist, and
the poison had reached as far as the shoulder when he was cured. The
skin on all this fell off.”[33]
[33] Ibid., p. 538.
There is some question as to the identity of the Indians met by Diaz’s
men, Alcaraz and his force, and the Coronado army near Corazones; but
various indications point toward the Seri. In the first place, the
several Indian settlements mentioned in the records define what must
have been then, as it was two centuries later, the Seri frontier,
beyond which lay the “despoblado” of Villa-Señor, i. e., the immense
area hunted and harried by roving bands from Tiburon; so that the Seri
must frequently have crossed the paths pursued by the Spanish pioneers.
In the second place, the accounts themselves seem to be typical records
of contact with Seri Indians, which might be repeated for each
subsequent episode in their history or century in time. The description
of the effect of the poison is especially suggestive of the Seri; as
pointed out on a later page, the Seri arrow-venom is magical in motive,
but actually consists of decomposing and ptomaine-filled organic
matter, so that it is sometimes septic in fact, while the arrow-poison
of the neighboring Opata, Jova, and other Piman tribes was (so far as
can be ascertained) vegetal; and these accounts seem to attest septic
poisoning rather than the effects of any known vegetal toxic.[34]
[34] It should he noted that Mr. F. W. Hodge, whose large acquaintance
with the Southwest and its literature gives his opinion great weight,
is inclined to class the Indians in question as Opata.
Such (assuming the validity of the several identifications) are the
earliest records concerning the truculent tribesmen and the desolate
district known centuries later as the Seri and Seriland.
* * * * *
About 1545 began the Dark Ages in the history of northwestern Mexico;
the excursion of Guzman, and the journeys of Cabeza de Vaca and Friar
Marcos and of Coronado himself, died out of the memory of the solitary
adventurers and scattering settlers who slowly infused Spanish culture
and a strain of Caucasian blood into the Sonoran province; even the
route taken by Coronado’s imposing cavalcade was lost for centuries,
to be retraced only during the present generation, largely through the
determinations of Simpson, Bandelier, Winship, and Hodge.[35] It is
true that Don Francisco de Ibarra penetrated the territory in 1563, and
remained until rumors of gold in other districts drew him elsewhere;
it is also true that Captain Diego Martinez de Hurdaide pushed into
the province in 1584, and entered on a career of subjugation, waging
persistent war with the Yaqui, which resulted in the acquisition of the
territory of Sonora by treaty April 15, 1610;[36] yet few records of
exploration or settlement were written before the advent of the Jesuit
missionaries, toward the end of the seventeenth century.
[35] Op. cit., pp. 29-73.
[36] Sonora Histórico y Descriptivo, por F. T. Dávila, 1894, p. 8.
Still more astounding was the eclipse of knowledge of the gulf. Despite
Ulloa’s survey of the entire coast, recorded in an itinerary so
detailed that every day’s sailing may readily be retraced, and despite
Alarcon’s repetition of the surveys and extension of the discoveries
far up Rio Colorado (where his work was verified by that of Melchior
Diaz), a mythic cartography arose to shadow knowledge and delude
exploration for a century and a half; for “upon the authority of a
Spanish chart, found accidently by the Dutch, and of the authenticity
of which there never were, or indeed could be, any proofs obtained,
an opinion prevailed that California was an island, and the contrary
assertion was treated even by the ablest geographers as a vulgar
error”;[37] and a mythic strait formed by cartographic extension of
the Gulf of California indefinitely northward haunted the maps of the
seventeenth century. This error was adopted by various geographers,
including Fredericus de Witt in 1662, Peter van der Aa in 1690, and
even Herman Moll so late as 1708; but it was consistently rejected by
Guillaume Delisle and other French geographers. The myth “was finally
punctured by Padre Kino in 1701; though even he and all his erudite
co-evangels were apparently unaware that his observations only verified
those of Ulloa, Alarcon, and Diaz.
[37] A Natural and Civil History of California; translated from the
original Spanish of Miguel Venegas; London, 1759, vol. I, preface.
During the stagnant sesquicentury 1545-1695 there was little record of
the Seri Indians, though that little indicates recognition of their
leading characteristics and their insular habitat. Writing especially
of the Yaqui before 1645, Padre Andrés Perez de Ribas declared (freely
translated):
There is information of a great people of another nation
called Heris; they are excessively savage, without towns,
without houses, without fields. They have neither rivers nor
streams, and drink from a few lagoonlets and waterholes. They
subsist by the chase, but at harvest time they obtain corn by
bartering salt extracted from the sea and deerskins with other
nations. Those nearest to the sea also subsist on fish; and
it is said that there is, in the same sea, an island on which
others of the same nation live. Their language is exceedingly
difficult.[38]
[38] Historia de los Trivmphos de Nvestra Santa Fee entre Gentes las
mas Barbaras y Fieras del Nueuo Orbe; Madrid, 1645, p. 358. The “Heris”
are identified as Seri by Bandelier (Final Report of Investigations
among the Indians of the Southwestern United States, in Papers Arch.
Inst. Am., American series, III, 1890, p. 74).
The same author mentions cannibalism among the aborigines of
northwestern Mexico, saying:
The vice of those called anthropophagi, who eat human flesh,
introduced by the devil, enemy of the human genus, among
nearly all these nations during their heathenism, is more or
less common. In the Acaxee and mountains this inhuman vice is
customary as eating of flesh obtained by the chase; it is of
daily occurrence among them; just as they sally in chase of
a deer, they go out over mountains and fields in search of
enemies to cut in pieces and eat roasted or boiled.[39]
[39] Op. cit., p. 11.
There is nothing to indicate that the anthropophagy was confined to, or
even extended to, the Seri—a fact of interest in connection with later
opinion. Ribas’ reference to an island inhabited by the Heris (Seri)
indicates that the occupancy of Tiburon was fully recognized by the
native tribes of the region.
Throughout the seventeenth century the western coast of Gulf of
California, and in lesser degree the eastern coast also, became
famous for pearl oysters, and expeditions were sent out and fisheries
established at different times. The earliest of these expeditions
was that of Captain Juan Iturbi in 1615; he sailed well up the gulf,
reaching latitude 30° according to his reckoning (though the accounts
imply between lines that he turned back at the Salsipuedes), collecting
many pearls along the western coast “so large and clear that for one
only he paid, as the King’s fifth, 900 crowns”;[40] and on his return
he carried the fame of the Californian pearls to Ciudad Mexico, whence
it resounded to Madrid and reverberated through all Europe. One of
the more noteworthy pearl-gathering expeditions was that of Admiral
Pedro Portel de Cassanate, which covered several years; he “took a
very careful survey of the eastern coast of the gulf” in 1618, but was
deterred from establishing a garrison by “the dryness and sterility of
the country”;[41] yet neither this voyage nor any of the others appears
to have resulted in any considerable rectification of the maps, or
in valuable records relating to the aboriginal inhabitants. Various
records indicate, however, that both pearl fishers by sea and gold
seekers by land must have met the warlike Seri—and sometimes survived
to enrich the growing lore concerning the tribe, and to establish the
existence of their island stronghold.
[40] Venegas, op. cit., vol. I, p. 182.
[41] Venegas, A Natural and Civil History of California, vol. I, p. 192.
* * * * *
New light dawned on Sonoran history with the extension of
evangelization by the Order of Jesuits into that territory under the
pilotage of Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino (Kaino, Kuino, Kühn, Kühne,
Quino, Chino, etc.), who sailed from Chacala, March 18, 1683,[42] for
California, with the expedition of Admiral Isidro Otondo y Antillon.
This expedition failing, the padre returned to the mainland in 1686,
and during the same year obtained authority and means for establishing
missions in Sonora, of which one was to be “founded among the Seris
of the gulf coast”.[43] Although the record of the padre’s movements
is hardly complete, it would appear that several years elapsed before
he actually approached, and also (contrary to the opinion of two
centuries) that he never saw, the real Seri habitat. According to
the anonymous author of “Apostolicos Afanes” (identified by modern
historians as Padre José Ortega), Padre Kino made many journeys over
the inhospitable wastes now known as Papagueria during the years
1686-1701,[44] and must have seen nearly the whole of the northern
and eastern portions of the territory; but only a single journey led
him toward Seriland. In February, 1694, he, with Padre Marcos Antonio
Kappus, Ensign Juan Mateo Mange (chronicler of this expedition), and
Captain Aguerra, set out for the coast; and Mange’s itinerary is so
circumstantial as to locate their route and every stopping place, with
a possible error not exceeding 5 miles in any case.
[42] Venegas, Noticia de la California, vol. I; Madrid, 1757, p. 219.
[43] The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. XV (History of the North
Mexican States, vol. I, 1531-1800), 1884, p. 252.
[44] Apostolicos Afanes de la Compañia de Jesus, escritos por un Padre
de la misma Sagrada Religion de su Provincia de Mexico; Barcelona,
1754, p. 246 et seq.
According to Mange’s itinerary, the explorers left Santa Magdalena de
Buquibava, on the banks of Rio San Ignacio or Santa Magdalena, February
9, traveling northwestward down the valley of that river (for the most
part) 12 leagues to San Miguel del Bosna; the original party having
been enlarged at Santa Magdalena by the addition of Nicolas Castrijo
and Antonio Mezquita, with two Indians for guides. On February 10
they traveled from Bosna 5 leagues southward (evidently in the valley
of Rio San Ignacio, which is here 5 to 25 miles in width), to sleep
at the watering place of Oacue, or San Bartolome. The next day they
journeyed westward along the wash (of San Ignacio), stopping, as was
their custom, to baptize the sick and others, and after covering 10
leagues camped at a tanque. On February 12 they continued westward over
mesquite-covered plains for 4 leagues, and then turned northwestward
for 3 leagues along the San Ignacio to Caborca, where they spent the
remainder of the day in evangelical work. Next morning, after saying
mass, they again proceeded westward “por la vega del rio abajo” (down
the bank of the river); at 2 leagues distance they arrived at the place
at which the river “sinks”, but continued westward along the sand-wash
5 leagues farther, passing the night at a tanque of turbid water. On
February 14 they again celebrated mass, and then proceeded westward
over the plains (“prosiguiendo nosotros al Poniente por llanos”);
at 4 leagues they reached a rancheria which was dubbed San Valentin
(still persisting as a Papago temporale; the “Bisanig” of various
maps), watered from a well in the river bed; proceeding westward
(“prosiguiendo al Poniente”) 6 leagues farther, they ascended a sierra
trending from south to north (“trasmontada una sierra que sita de Sur á
Norte”) of which they named the principal peak Nazareno, in a dry and
sterile barranca in which they afterward slept; from this sierra they
saw “the Gulf of California, and, on the farther coast, four mountains
of that territory, which we named Los Cuatro Stos. Evangelistas, and
toward the northwest an islet with three cerritos named Las Tres
Marias, and in the southwest the Isla de Seris, to which they retreat
when pursued by soldiers for their robberies, which we call San Agustin
and others Tiburon.”[45] The record continues:
[45] Translated somewhat freely from Resumen de Noticias, in Documentos
para la Historia de Mexico, cuarta série, tomo I, 1856, pp. 235-236.
On the fifteenth, after saying mass, we continued our route to
the west by a dry and stony ravine which there is between the
mountains, and at 3 leagues we met some Indians taking water
from a small well in earthen jars, who, on seeing us, ran away,
flying from fear; but at two musket shots we overtook them,
treated them kindly, and brought them back to the well that
they might assist in watering the horses, giving them all the
water necessary, for the reason that they had not drunk the
day before. For this reason we called this place Paraje de las
Ollas. They were naked people, and only covered their private
parts with small pieces of hare skin; and one of them was so
aged that by his looks he must have been about 120 years old.
We continued to the west over barren plains, arid and without
pasture, a country as sandy as a sea-beach, until we reached
the sand-banks, where the horses had great difficulty; and
after another 7 leagues Father Kappus and the other people
camped without water, and with only pasture of salt grass;
but Padre Kino and I [Mange], with guides, and the governor
of Los Dolores [Aguerra], in order to be forehanded, went
west 2 leagues farther, crossing the bed of Rio San Ignacio;
we arrived at the banks of an arm of the sea to which, in the
sixty years that the province of Sonora had been peopled, no
one had come, and we were the first who had the great privilege
of seeing the Island of the Seris and that of Tres Marias, as
well as the mountains of Cuatro Evangelistas, in California,
on the other side of the gulf, the width of which, according
to the measuring instruments at this position of 30° [actually
about 30° 35'], is some 20 leagues. We returned to the bed of
the river [San Ignacio], where we found a well nearly dry;
we drew from it water for the horses, who had had nothing to
drink, and took some ourselves, although it was turbid, muddy,
and disagreeable.
Now, this itinerary recounts, in definite and unmistakable terms,
the incidents and localities of a journey down the valley of Rio San
Ignacio (also called Santa Magdalena, Altar, Ascuncion, Pitiquito,
Caborca, etc., in different parts of its course), from the present
city of Santa Magdalena by the present town of Caborca to the coast
at a point almost directly west of both Caborca and Santa Magdalena.
Moreover, Kino’s map of 1702[46] locates “Nazareno” on this river, and
permits identification of the sierra with Dewey’s “three conspicuous
peaks” placed directly inland from the lagoon at the mouth of San
Ignacio river, on the Hydrographic Office charts; it also locates
Caborca (miswritten “Cabetka”) in approximate position. Furthermore, it
would have been physically impossible for the rather heavily outfitted
Kino party, with carriages and churchly equipage, to traverse the
untrodden and forbidding wastes from Caborca to even the nearest part
of Seriland within the period of two days and a fraction, and the
distance of 29 leagues (some 74 miles), detailed in the itinerary.
The direct way from Caborca to Tiburon would lie due southward, over
sierra-ribbed and barranca-cut plains never yet explored by white men,
nor even traversed by Indians so far as known, for more than 100 miles
in an air line; while the nearest practicable route, passing by way
of Cieneguilla, Las Cruces, Pozo Noriega, Bacuachito, Sayula, Tonuco,
Rancho Libertad, and Barranca Salina (or Aguaje Parilla) measures fully
200 miles, and requires at least six days for the passage with good
horses and light equipage. The Kino party might, indeed, have turned
southwestward at Caborca and pushed to the now abandoned landing at
the anchorage below Cabo Lobos;[47] but the directions and distances
specifically stated, and the specific identification of Rio San Ignacio
at the end and at other points of the journey, all prove that this was
not the route actually traveled. The terminus of the trip so clearly
fixed by the itinerary is over 100 miles from the nearest point of
Seriland proper; moreover, Tiburon is rendered invisible both from the
coast and from Cerro Nazareno not only by distance, but by intervening
sierras, notably those projecting into the Gulf to form Cabo Lobos
and Punta Tepopa. It follows that Kino and Mange completely missed
Seriland in their expedition to the coast, and there is nothing to
indicate that they ever saw the Seri tribesmen. Their descriptions of
the Indians encountered fairly fit the peaceful Papago of the interior
and the timid Tepoka of the coast; and neither Mange’s narrative nor
other contemporary records suggest contact between the exploring party
and the distinctive holders of Tiburon. The specific and repeated
references in the itinerary to the island of San Agustin, or Tiburon,
evidently relate to the ancient Isla de Santa Inez, the modern Isla
Angel de la Guarda,[48] one of the most prominent geographic features
visible either from Cerro Nazareno or from the adjacent coast. There
is no reason to infer that Kino or any of his party ever detected
their error in identification of geographic features which must have
been conspicuous in the lore of the aborigines and settlers of Sonora;
indeed, the error well attests the prominence of the Seri and their
habitat in the local thought of the time.[49]
[46] Tabula California, anno 1702 (Via terrestris in Californiam
comperta et detecta per R. Patrem Eusebium Fran. Chino è S. I.
Germanum. Adnotatis novis Missionibus ejusdem Soctis ab anno 1698 ad
annum 1701), in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott, Augsburg und Grätz, 1726.
[47] Elaborately mapped and established (on paper) as the “Puerto
y Villa de la Libertad” in 1861 (Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana
de Geografia y Estadistica, 1863, X, p. 263 et seq.), and actually
maintained from 1875 to 1884 as the port of Libertad (not the abandoned
Rancho Libertad on the border of Seriland), or Serna, according to
Dávila (Sonora Histórico y Descriptivo, pp. 140, 309).
[48] Identified by Alexandre de Humboldt in his Carte Générale du
Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, of 1804 (in Atlas Géographique et
Physique, Paris, 1811). So late as 1840 the old name was sometimes
retained, e. g., on Robert Greenhow’s map accompanying his History of
California and Oregon.
[49] In one of the last letters from his pen, dated November 25, 1899,
the late Dr Elliott Cones wrote, “I find you trailing Kino and Mange in
1694 precisely as I had them, and I make no doubt of the substantial
accuracy of your typewritten MS. I accept your position that the large
island they sighted and named San Agustin was not Tiburon, but Angel de
la Guarda Isl.”
* * * * *
An effect of the Jesuit invasion was to give record to episodes
growing out of alien contact with the Seri. One of the earliest of
these records recounts nocturnal raids by the “Seris Salineros” for
robbery and murder in the pueblos of Tuape, Cucurpe, and Magdalena (de
Tepoca).[50] In January, 1700, Sergeant Juan Bautista de Escalante set
out with fifteen soldiers to this mission of Santa Magdalena de Tepoca
on an expedition of protection and reprisal; and here he learned that
the “Seris Salineros” had killed with arrows three persons. Taking
their trail, he reached Nuestra Señora del Populo only to find that ten
families of converts had deserted to steal cattle, whereupon he started
in search of them; he overtook them 20 leagues away, and, despite
armed resistance on their part, arrested and whipped them and returned
them to the pueblo. Among the captives were two “Seris Salineros”
concerned in the murders at Tepoca, and three others guilty of similar
outrages at the Pueblo de los Angeles de Pimas Cocomacagües; these he
executed as a warning to the others, after taking their depositions
and confessions, and after they were shrived by Padre Adano Gilo (or
Adan Gilg), the priest of Populo. This duty performed, he resumed the
trail of the Seri, accompanied by the padre; and, approaching the sea,
he found a port, as well as an island to which most of the Seri had
escaped in balsas, leaving eight of their number, who were arrested and
turned over to the priest.[51]
[50] A mission founded in 1699 by Padre Melchor Bartiromo (Historia
de la Compañia de Jesus en Nueva España, que esta escribiendo el P.
Francisco Javier Alegre, 1842, tomo III, p. 117), of which the location
has long been lost.
[51] Resumen de Noticias, op. cit., tomo I, p. 321.
This is the first record of actual invasion of Seriland by Caucasians.
According to Bancroft, it “may be deemed the beginning of the Seri wars
which so long desolated the province”.[52]
[52] Op. cit., p. 275 (the year is misprinted 1800 on this page and in
the index).
The next noteworthy episode occurred when Sergeant Escalante, who had
returned to Tuape and Santa Magdalena (de Tepoca), again set out for
the coast on February 28, 1700, taking a new route (probably down Rio
Bacuache). He traveled 30 leagues, passing four watering places, and on
March 6 arrived at the Paraje de Aguas Frias (probably Pozo Escalante
or Agua Amarilla of recent maps); there, three nights later, he was
attacked by archers, who discharged arrows into the soldiers’ camp and
immediately fled. Subsequently, seeking their enemies close to the sea
20 leagues away (probably on the eastern shore of El Infiernillo),
Escalante and his men were joined by 120 Tepoka people; and, failing to
find their assailants, they gave these allies a supply of provisions
and turned them over to Padre Melchor Bartiromo, who allotted to
them, in conjunction with 300 deserters from the missions who had
been captured by the soldiers, not only lands but corn for sowing and
eating. Having thus disposed of the Indians, Escalante and his soldiers
returned to the coast on March 28, 1700, to punish the boldness and
pride of the Indians in their stronghold (“los indios seris de la
ranchería del medio”). Passing by balsas to the island, “they overtook
those who caught up bows and arrows to fight, of whom they slew nine as
an example to the others”; and these others they captured and sent to
the priest at Populo—after which the party returned to Cucurpe in time
to celebrate Holy Thursday on April 8.[53]
[53] Resumen de Noticias, op. cit., tomo I, pp. 321-322.
This contemporary recital, written by Escalante’s acquaintance and
rival in exploration and subjugation, Juan Mateo Mange, bears both
internal and external evidence of falling well within the truth. It
is corroborated and extended by Alegre’s version, written forty or
fifty years later on data at least partially independent: according to
Alegre, Escalante and his soldiers went on balsas to the “Isla de los
Seris, which is called San Agustin by some, but more commonly Tiburon”.
He added that the retreats of the Seri after the murders and robberies
committed at the pueblos of Pimeria, as well as the abundant pearl
fisheries, have made this place highly noted (“muy famosa”); and he
correctly described the strait and the projecting sand-banks opposite
the center of the island, which reduce the open water to a width of
barely half a league: “At this constriction the Seri cross in balsas
composed of many slender reeds, disposed in three bundles, thick in
the middle and narrowing toward the ends, 5 and 6 varas in length.
These balsas sustain the weight of four or five persons, and with light
two-bladed paddles 2 varas in length cut the water easily.” He remarked
also that while a part of the Seri seen on the island by Escalante were
captured the major portion escaped, “fleeing with great swiftness”.[54]
[54] Op. cit., tomo III, pp. 117-119.
The early record is also corroborated, in a manner hardly credible in
regions of more rapid social and physiographic development, by local
tradition and by the survival of the well excavated by the party and
still bearing Escalante’s name.
On the whole it may be considered established that Sergeant Escalante
crossed El Infiernillo and visited Tiburon in 1700; and, although it
may be possible that pearl fishers or others preceded him, he must be
credited with the first recorded exploration of strait and island by
white men.
The specific references to the Seri and their insular habitat by
Ribas, by Kino and his chronicler, and by the various recorders of
Escalante’s expeditions, establish the extent of the lore concerning
people and place, even before the end of the seventeenth century. This
lore found measurable expression in maps prepared in Europe, even by
those cartographers who purposely or otherwise ignored the surveys of
Ulloa and Alarcon. In his “newest and most accurate” map of America,
1662, Fredericus de Witt depicted the Gulf of California (“Mare Ver
mio olim Mare Rvbrvm”) as extending northward to connect with the
mythic Strait of Anian (“Fretum Aniani”), yet he located Rio Colorado
(“R. de Tecon”) and Rio Gila (“R. de Coral”) approximately, placing
the largest island in the gulf, named “I. Gigante”, just off their
(common) embouchure;[55] and an anonymous map of the Pacific ocean,
apparently by the same author and of closely corresponding date, is
essentially similar.[56] The map of the northern part of America by
Peter van der Aa, about 1690, is also similar, though on smaller
scale;[57] and the same may be said of that cartographer’s new map of
America, issued about the same time, in which the island is designated
“I. de Gigante”.[58] A somewhat later map by Van der Aa (although
supposed to have been issued in 1690) is greatly improved; the “Mer
de Californie” is brought to rather indefinite end a little above the
mouth of Rio Colorado (“R. de bona guia”); the “Pimases” are placed
in proper position with respect to the Gila (“R. de Coral”), and the
“Herises” are located a third of the way and the “Ahomeses” halfway
down the gulf; while a greatly elongated island stretches from the one
to the other off the province of “Sonora”.[59] The origin of the name
“Gigante” is uncertain; it may be borrowed from a land feature. As used
in some cases it apparently connotes the size of the island, while the
use in other cases evidently connotes gigantic inhabitants.
[55] Novissima et Accuratissima Septentrionalis ac Meridionalis
Americæ, Amsterdam. (In American Maps, 1579-1796, Library U. S.
Geological Survey, 135.)
[56] Mar del Zvr, Hispanis, Mare Pacificum. (Ibid., 129.)
[57] ’T Noorder Deel van Amerika, Leyden. (Ibid., 178.)
[58] Nouvelle Carte de l’Amerique, Leyden. (Ibid., 156.)
[59] L’Amerique Septentrionale Suivant les Nouvelles Observations,
etc., Leyden. (Ibid., 181.) This island is not named, but is
undoubtedly the Santa Inez of several other maps—the Angel de la Guarda
of the present.
Naturally, in view of the slow and imperfect diffusion of knowledge
characteristic of early times, cartographers were dilatory in
introducing the observations of Kino and Escalante. The map of America
by Herman Moll, about 1708,[60] represents the “Gulf of California or
Red Sea”, connecting the “South Sea” with the “Straits of Anian”, and
depicts Rio Colorado (“Tison R.”) and a composite river apparently
designed to represent Rio Gila (made up of “R. Sonaca”, “R. Azul”,
and “R. Colorado”, with two other long tributaries from the south)
embouching separately a little below midlength of the gulf. Somewhat
above these are three islands, one of which is designated “Gigate
Isle”, while “Pimeria” is located correctly with respect to Rio
Gila, though too close to the sea, and “R. Sonora” is located too
far southward, with a province of the same name just north of it.
There is no reference to the Seri, but a locality in Lower California
opposite Sonora is named “Gigante”.[61] Quite similar is the map of
North America drawn and engraved by R. W. Seale about 1722, though the
provinces of Pimeria and Sonora are brought closer together, while the
magnified Gila is named Colorado (“Tison R.” also being retained).[62]
The map of North America presented to the Duc de Bourgogne by H.
Iaillot about 1720 is much the same; the “Isle de Californie” is
separated from the continent by “Mar Vermejo ou Mer Rouge” with four
islands, of which the southernmost, “I. de Gigante”, lies somewhat
below the separate mouths of “R. de Tecon” and “R. de Coral”, while the
extravagantly magnified Gila of previous maps is partially replaced
by a still more extravagant “R. del Norte”, rising in a mythical
lake above the fortieth parallel and falling into the gulf under the
thirtieth.[63] The map of Mexico and Florida by Guillaume “De l’Isle”,
published in Amsterdam by Covens and Mortier, 1722, patently begs the
question as to the northern extension of “Mer de Californie” by cutting
off the cartography at the critical point. “R. del Tison” is retained
as a subordinate river, while the separate and greatly magnified Gila
corresponds with that of the Iaillot map, the upper tributary being “R.
Sonaca ou de Hila”; “R. di Sonora” is depicted in approximate position,
with the province of the same name extending northward and “Seris”
located a little above the mouth of the river. No islands are shown in
the vicinity, but the name “Gigante” appears on the western coast of
the gulf, about latitude 26°.[64] The map of North America by the same
author, supposed to date about 1740 though probably earlier, recalls
the Van der Aa map of 1690 (?); “Mer de Californie ou Mer Vermeille”
ends doubtfully about latitude 34°, where “R. de bona guia” and “R. de
Coral” bound the “Campagne de bona guia”, and fall separately into the
gulf near its head; the “Pimases”, “Herises”, “Sumases”, “Aibinoses”,
and “Ahomeses” are distributed thence southward along the coast to
about the twenty-eighth parallel, while a nameless island stretches
parallel with the coast of “Sonora” from about 28° to 32°.[65]
[60] North America, according to ye Newest and most Exact Observations,
etc., London. (Ibid., 93.)
[61] Doubtless the mountain “La Giganta”, named by Admiral Otondo
toward the end of the seventeenth century (Documentas para la Historia
de Mexico, cuarta série, 1857, tomo V, p. 122), and noted by Hardy in
1820 (Travels in Interior of Mexico in 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1828,
London, 1829, p. 243).
[62] A map of North America, with the European Settlements and whatever
else is Remarkable in ye West Indies, from the latest and best
Observations. (American maps, loc. cit., 110.)
[63] Amerique Septentrionale Divisée en Ses Principales Parties.
(Ibid., 109.)
[64] Carte du Mexique et de la Floride, des Terres Angloises et des
Isles Antilles, etc. (Ibid., 136.)
[65] L’Amerique Septentrionale ... par G. de l’Isle: Amsterdam, Chez
Pierre Mortier. (Ibid., 172.) The island is, of course, Santa Inez, i.
e., Angel de la Guarda.
With one or two exceptions, these maps demonstrate the prevailing
neglect or ignorance of the classic explorations along the western
coast of America early in the sixteenth century; yet they introduce
features representing vague knowledge of the Seri Indians and their
insular habitat, undoubtedly derived (like that of Padre Kino and
Sergeant Escalante anterior to their expeditions) from native sources.
The Kino map of 1702 gradually came to be recognized as trustworthy in
important particulars, and brought to an end the baseless extension
northward of the gulf; yet it was seriously inaccurate in details,
particularly those affected by the erroneous identification of the
second-largest island in the gulf with the largest. Accordingly Isla
Santa Inez (the modern Isla Angel de la Guarda) is omitted from its
proper position, and replaced by “I. S. August” close to the eastern
coast; yet the land-mass of Tiburon is roughly defined as a peninsula
bounded on the north by “Portus S. Sabina” (Bahia Tepopa) and on the
south by “Baya S. Ioa. Bapt.” (Bahias Kunkaak and Kino). Two other
considerable islands are represented as dividing the width of the bay
west-southwest of “I. S. August”, and are named “2. Saltz-Insel”;
although evidently traditional, their positions correspond roughly with
those of San Esteban and San Lorenzo. The map locates the “Topokis”
between Rio San Ignacio and Rio Sonora, with the “Guaimas” immediately
below the latter.[66] Kino’s three pier-like islands bridging the gulf
were adopted in Delisle’s map of America, published in Amsterdam by
Jean Cóvens and Corneille Mortier about 1722, in greatly reduced size,
though larger islands are shown farther northward; and an ill-defined
peninsula corresponding to Tiburon is retained.[67] The D’Anville map
of 1746 embodies Kino’s discoveries about the head of the gulf and
retains his pier-like islands, yet not only corrects his error in
omitting the second greatest island of the gulf, but perpetuates equal
error in the opposite direction: “I. de S. Vicente” is made the largest
of the islands and located near the western coast a little below the
mouth of Rio San Ignacio, while “I. de Sta. Inés” is made second
largest and is located southeast of it and near the eastern coast. The
third island in size is named “Seris”, while the fourth and fifth,
completing the Kino trio, are called “Is. de Sal”, and the mainland
projection remains defined on the south by “B. de S. Juan”.[68] The
Vaugondy map of 1750 locates the transverse trio of islands in greatly
reduced size, and omits the larger islands of the gulf.[69] The
islands, etc., of the Covens and Mortier map of 1757 correspond closely
with D’Anville’s map of 1746, and a nameless bay defines a peninsula in
the position of Tiburon.[70] The Pownall map of 1783 also follows that
of D’Anville so far as the islands are concerned, though the position
of that corresponding to the present Angel de la Guarda lies beyond the
limit of the sheet; “I. de Inez” lies some distance below the mouth of
“Sta. Madalena” river, off the territory of the “Sobas” and “Seris”;
“Seris I.” is smaller, the two “Sall Is.” are smaller still, and there
is an ill-defined projection of the mainland, bounded on the south by
“B. de S. Juan”.[71]
[66] Map in Stocklein, op. cit.
[67] Carte d’Amerique, etc. (American maps, loc. cit., 20.)
[68] Amérique Septentrionale ... par le Sr. d’Anville, Paris. (Ibid.,
50 and 51.)
[69] Amérique Septentrionale ... par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy, Paris.
(Ibid., 27.)
[70] L’Amerique Septentrionale, etc., Amsterdam. (Ibid., 160.)
[71] A new map of North America, with the West India Islands.... Laid
down according to the Latest Surveys, and Corrected from the Original
Materials of Goverʳ Pownall, London. (Ibid., 22.)
While the makers of the later of these maps were engaged in
perpetuating the vestigial features, erroneous and otherwise, of the
Kino map, the Jesuits of peninsular California employed themselves
in reexploration of the western coast of the gulf, a particularly
productive expedition being that of Padre Ferdinando Consag, in 1747.
The padre’s map represents the western coast in considerable though
much distorted detail, and depicts “I. del Angel de la Guarda” as a
greatly elongated body, a third of the way across the gulf from the
western coast; next in size is “I. d S. Lorenzo”; then come “ I. d
S. Esteban” in the middle of the gulf, and in the same transverse
line, but quite near the eastern coast, “I. d S. Agustin”, the two
being approximately equal in size, while above and about equidistant
from them is “I. de S. Pedro”, about half so large as either.
These, with four smaller islands near the western coast, bear the
general designation “Islas de Sal, si puedes”, which in this case
may be translated “Salt (possibly) islands,” though later forms
of the name imply a quite different meaning, i. e., “Islands of
Get-out-if-(you-)can”, or “Get-out-if-canst”.[72] The eastern coast
shows two deep indentations named “Tepoca” and “Bahia d S. Juan
Bautista” bounding a peninsula corresponding in position to insular
Seriland.[73] It is evident that the cartography of the eastern coast
is based on that of Kino, that the island of San Agustin is hypothetic,
and that the land-mass of Tiburon proper is not separated from the
mainland, while San Pedro island is apparently the Isla Patos of the
present. The more general map by Venegas combines details of the
Consag, Kino, and other maps; “I. del Angel de la Guarda” is greatly
magnified and placed somewhat too far northward, while both San Lorenzo
and San Esteban are made much larger than “I. San Agustin”, which is
represented as scarcely larger than “I. de S. Pedro”; the mainland is
indented to great depth by Kino’s “Pto. de Sta. Sabina” and “Bahia
de Sn. Juan Baptista”, in such wise as to define a decided peninsula,
while the “Seris” are located 2° farther southward and below Rio
Sonora, and the “Guaimas” still farther down the coast.[74] Another
illustration of the chaotic notions of the time is afforded by the
Baegert map, published in 1773, and credited largely to Consag.[75]
The sheet locates the author’s routes of arrival (1751) and departure
(1768), the former overland from far down the coast to the mouth of
“Torrens Hiaqui,” and thence directly across “Mare Californiae”, via
“Tiburon” (lying just off the mouth of the river, in latitude 28°),
with the usual congeries of islands, headed by “I. S. Ang. Gart” (Angel
de la Guarda), in latitude 30°-31°, and the usual shore configuration
above the debouchure of Rio Sonora; “Los Seris” are located in the
interior between Rio Sonora and “Torrens Hiaqui”, while just above
the mouth of the latter lies “Gua mas M.[ission] destr. per Apostatas
Seris”. The Pownall map of 1786 incorporates Padre Consag’s results on
reduced scale, but omits the islands toward the eastern shore of the
gulf.[76]
[72] It seems probable that various early cartographers were misled
by the traditional lore of “salineros”, or salt-making Indians, in
combination with the unusual designation of these islands. In his text
Padre Consag rendered the term “Sal-si-puedes”, and strongly emphasized
the violent tidal currents and consequent dangers to vessels which
suggested the vigorously idiomatic designation to early navigators
(Venegas. Noticia de la California, III, p. 145); in the Venegas map
(ibid., tomo I, p. 1) the name is used without the qualifying comma,
and in the text it is hyphenated “Sal-si-puedes”, the author observing
concerning the local currents, “These currents run with astonishing
rapidity, and their noise is equal to that of a large rapid river
among rocks; nor do they run only in one direction, but set in many
intersected gyrations” (A Natural and Civil History of California,
p. 63). And the “Sacerdote Religioso”, whose letters place him among
the authorities on Lower California, wrote: “In the narrows of the
gulf are a multitude of islets, for the passage being so dangerous to
vessels they are called _Sal si puedes_” (Noticias de la Provincia
de Californias, Valencia, 1794, p. 11); while Hardy, who navigated
this portion of the gulf early in the present century (Travels in the
Interior of Mexico, London, 1829, p. 279), mentioned a passage “between
the islands called ‘Sal si Puedes’ (get back if you can)”. So, too,
Duflot de Mofras wrote of “les îles de Sal si puedes (Sors si tu peux)”
in his Explorations du Territoire de l’Orégon, Paris, 1814, p. 219.
Bancroft properly reduced the obscure connotive phrase to the single
denotive term “Salsipuedes,” and noted the signification as “Get out if
thou canst” (North Mexican States, vol. I, p. 444). In 1873-1875 Dewey
restricted the name to a single island and a channel, and emphasized
the currents in the latter “against which sailing vessels found it
almost impossible to make any headway” (The West Coast of Mexico,
Publication 56, U. S. Hydrographic Office, Bureau of Navigation, 1880,
p. 113), and rendered the name “Sal-si-puedes” in the text, “Sal si
puedes” on the charts. Hittell’s reference to “the group of islands
then known as Salsipuedes, the largest of which is now called Tiburon”
(History of California, vol. I, p. 225), doubtless expresses the early
use of the term precisely, save that the present Tiburon was long
treated as a part of the mainland, while its names were applied to Isla
Tassne or some other islet. Vide postea, p. 45.
[73] Seno de California, etc., in Venegas, Noticia de la California,
tomo III, p. 194.
[74] Noticia de la California, tomo I, p. 1.
[75] California, per P. Ferdinandum Consak, S. I., et alios, in
Nachrichten von der amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien....
Geschrieben von einem Priester der Gesellschaft Jesu (identified as
Jacob Baegert by Rau, Smithsonian Report, 1863, p. 352); Mannheim, 1773.
[76] A New Map of the Whole Continent of America, London. (American
maps, loc. cit., 4.)
On the whole the cartography of a century indicates that the striking
explorations of Ulloa, Alarcon, and Diaz were utterly neglected; it
indicates, too, that Kino’s observations were promptly adopted, but
that his erroneous identification of the island seen from Nazareno
occasioned confusion; yet there is nothing to indicate definite
knowledge of Escalante’s discoveries. Apparently the cartographic
tangle began with the failure to discover the narrow strait traversing
Seriland, coupled with hearsay notions of an insular Seri stronghold;
it was complicated by Kino’s erroneous identification of the hearsay
island; and it grew into the mapping of a traditional islet about the
position of Tiburon, and the extension of the mainland into a peninsula
embracing the actual land-mass of that island[77]—the islet lying
about the site of the modern Isla Tassne, and often appearing under
the name San Agustin.[78] Accordingly, so far as maps are concerned,
Escalante’s discoveries were no less completely lost than those of
Ulloa.
[77] This cartography reappeared occasionally up to about the middle of
the nineteenth century, as illustrated by the Greenhow map accompanying
the edition of his history issued in 1845.
[78] This condition is revealed in Mühlenpfordt, Versuch einer getreuen
Schilderung der Republic Mejico, etc.; Hannover, 1844.
* * * * *
The recorded, history of the Seri Indians during the earlier
two-thirds of the eighteenth century is largely one of zealous effort
at conversion on the part of the Jesuit missionaries, who repeatedly
approached the territory by both land and sea; yet the records touch
also on events of exploration and on the characteristics of the tribe.
One of the earliest chroniclers was Padre Juan Maria de Sonora, who
in 1699-1701 inspected many of the missions of Lower California and
Sonora and acquainted himself in exceptional degree with the neophytes
and their wilder kindred. About the beginning of 1701 he crossed with
great danger (“pasé con grande peligro”) from Loreto to the eastern
coast, and, accompanied by two “Indios Guaymas, caciques,” proceeded
among the Sonoran settlements.[79] On February 18 he was at the new
town of Magdalena (de Tepoca), “where, with great labor, Padre Melchor
Bartiromo had gathered more than a hundred souls of the maritime nation
of Tepocas”, and where the visitors were accorded an enthusiastic
reception. He went on to say:
[79] Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, cuarta série, tomo V;
Mexico, 1857, pp. 125-126.
It is notable that where the Tepocas and Salineros are located
the sea is populous with islands [muy poblado de islas], and
the first of these toward the coast contains foot-folk [gente
de á pié], who live on it. Then there are two islands much
nearer the mainland of California, and it is said that they
[the Tepoka] are able to navigate in their barquillas [balsas]
to the adjacent coast; and the possession of these Tepocas, who
are all Seris by nation, of certain words of the Cuchimies of
[Lower] California, who occupy the opposite coast, indicates
that they have communicated in other times.[80]
[80] Ibid., p. 132.
This record is especially significant as indicating the affinity
between the Seri and the Tepoka, as establishing the transnavigation
of the Gulf by the Seri craft, and as explaining the possible passage
of loan words from the Cochimi to the Seri, and presumptively from the
Seri to the Cochimi.
A notable visitor to the shores of Seriland was Padre Juan Maria
Salvatierra, who had previously “made a peace betwixt the Seris
cristians, and the Pimas”, soon violated by the former “in the murder
of 40 Pimas”. In August, 1709, he essayed the recovery of a vessel
wrecked “on the barren coast of the Seris”, which these Indians were
engaged in looting and breaking up for the nails; and, by dint of his
“persuasive elocution ... not a little forwarded by the respectable
sweetness of his air”, aided by timely explosions of the bark’s
pateraroes (mortars), he induced restitution, the restoration of peace,
and the reinstatement of several of the robbing and murdering Seri as
communicants.[81] Padre Salvatierra observed the distinctive character
of the Seri tongue, but made no extended exploration of Seriland,
either coastwise or interior.
[81] Venegas, A Natural and Civil History of California, vol. I, pp.
405-411.
The next noteworthy visitor was Padre Juan de Ugarte, who, at the
instance of Salvatierra, undertook an exploration of the gulf coast
complementary to Kino’s land explorations about its northern terminus.
Ugarte was the Hercules of Baja California history; he awed the natives
by slaying a California lion, unarmed save with stones, and enforced
orderly attention to his catechizing by seizing an obstreperous
champion by the hair, lifting him at arm’s length, and shaking him
into submission; and under incredible difficulties due to absence
of material and distance of timber, he built the first vessel ever
constructed in California, the bilander (two-master) _El Triunfo
de la Cruz_—a fit prototype of the _Oregon_ of nearly two centuries
later—which proved to be the finest craft ever seen on the coast, and
played an important role in later history.[82]
[82] Hittell, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 191-193, 219-221.
On May 15, 1721, Ugarte embarked at Loreto (Lower California) and
skirted the coast northward to the Islas de Salsipuedes, whence
he crossed the gulf to “Puerto de _Santa Sabina, ó Bahia de San
Juan Bautista_” near the islands “en la Costa de los _Tepoquis_,
y _Seris_”.[83] The Indians soon appeared and, in excess of amity
(ascribed to the display of the cross), threw themselves into the sea
and swam to the ship, and afterward aided in taking water; for “early
next day the Indians appeared in troops, and all with water-vessels;
the men each with two in nets hanging from a pole across their
shoulders, and the women with one.”[84] After watering, the Ugarte
party, accompanied by two of the Indians, set sail in the bilander with
a pinnace and a canoe, and in the early morning found themselves in a
narrow channel apparently separating the island from the mainland; the
pinnace and the canoe were dispatched to courier the larger craft; but
“the channel, besides being narrow and crooked, was so full of shoals
that ... the bilander stuck and was in danger of being lost”, while
the canoe and the pinnace were caught by the currents and carried “to
such a distance as not to be seen”. Finding it impossible to return,
the party pushed on, and “after three days of continual danger, they
reached the mouth of the channel, where they found the boat and
pinnace”; when they were surprised to find the strait opening, not into
the gulf, but into a great and spacious bay. Approaching a landing,
they were met by Indian archers wearing feather headdresses and
comporting themselves in a threatening manner; but these were pacified
by the two Indians brought from the watering-place. Here Ugarte was
taken ill, and the islanders made thirteen “balsillas” on which fifty
Indians passed to the bilander and urged him to land on the island,
where they had prepared a house for his reception; this he did, despite
severe suffering, and was received with great ceremony. After a short
stay, the party explored the coast northward, stopping off Caborca to
lay in supplies, and discovered (anew and independently) the mouth of
the Colorado; then, despite repeated risk and much suffering from the
exceeding tides, severe storms, and the terrible tiderips off Islas
Salsipuedes, they finally made return to Loreto.
[83] Venegas, Noticia de la California, tomo II, p. 343.
[84] Venegas, A Natural and Civil History of California, vol. II, p. 48.
The itinerary of this voyage recounts the first recorded navigation
through El Infiernillo; and, while it is too meager to permit retracing
the trip in detail, it seems practically certain that the vessels
entered Bahia Tepopa, watered at Pozo Hardy, passed around Punta
Perla and thence southward through the strait, and emerged through
Boca Infierno into Bahia Kunkaak, afterward proceeding westward and
northward around the outer coast, and thus circumnavigating Tiburon.
While Ugarte’s pilot, Guilermo Estrafort (or Strafort),[85] displayed
great energy and courage in charting the coast, the voyage neither
yielded published maps nor affected current and subsequent cartography;
for, although Ugarte’s narrative and Estrafort’s map and journal were
sent to Mexico to be presented to the viceroy, they were apparently
lost.[86] Nor does the itinerary indicate recognition of Kino’s error
in identification of the Seri island, though several days were occupied
in voyaging from the island to the latitude of Caborca; indeed,
it seems probable that it was either Salvatierra, Kino’s intimate
associate, or Ugarte, Kino’s colleague and Salvatierra’s intimate
friend, who fixed the name of the pioneer padre on the geographic
features still known as Bahia Kino and Punta Kino—features which Kino
never knew, as already shown.
[85] An Englishman named (probably) William Strafford, according to
Bancroft; op. cit, vol. I, p. 444.
[86] Venegas, Noticia de la California, tomo II, p. 370.
Although both Salvatierra and Ugarte were on superficially amicable
terms with the Seri, the amity was evidently of the shallowest and most
evanescent sort. Venegas says:
Of the _Seris_ and _Tepocas_, although the padre passed
among them with the pay in his hand, he could not induce
them to assist him in any way, even when they saw the party
in the greatest distress; while others toiled, they reclined
with the greatest serenity, nor have they shown the priests
the slightest civility during the forty years of their
acquaintance—they utterly refused to part with ollas of coarse
ware, even for a liberal exchange.[87]
[87] Ibid., p. 386.
And the contemporary lore, crystallized in current administrative
policy and later records, and corroborated by deep-rooted customs
maintained for centuries and still persisting, is significant; it
indicates that then, as now, it was the habit of the Tiburon islanders
to flee from or fawn upon powerful visitors, to ambush or assail by
night parties of moderate strength, to openly attack none but the weak
or defenseless, yet ever to delight in tricking the credulity and
consuming the stores and stock of aliens, and to revel in shedding
alien blood when occasion offered. The adventurous hunters and gold
seekers of the mainland, and the still hardier pearl fishers of the
coast, wrote nothing; but both civil and ecclesiastical records imply
common knowledge that weaker parties venturing into the purlieus of
Seriland never returned—they disappeared and left no sign.
* * * * *
While Salvatierra and Ugarte were occupied on the coast, the
missionaries were no less industrious in the interior. The mission
of Santa Magdalena de Tepoca was apparently soon abandoned; but the
so-called Seri missions at Populo (Nuestra Señora del Populo) and
Angeles (Nuestra Señora de los Angeles) were maintained from the time
of Kino’s coming up to the expulsion of the Jesuits (in 1767), while
that at Nacameri was nearly as well sustained. The relations of these
missions to Seriland are significant: according to the anonymous author
of Sonora’s classic, “Rudo Ensayo”, written in 1763, Nacameri lay in
the valley of Rio Opodepe (or Horcasitas), 7 leagues below the town
of the same name (still extant); 9 leagues down the same stream lay
Populo (on the site of the present town of Horcasitas); Angeles lay 3
or 4 leagues farther downstream, or over 12 leagues above the site of
Pitic[88] (the present Hermosillo); while various references indicate
that the temporary mission of Santa Magdalena was located in the same
valley, probably a few leagues above Opodepe.[89] Accordingly, the
missions ranged from 100 to 150 miles inland, measured in an air line,
or four hard days’ journey, as shown by Escalante’s record, from the
Seri coast. The nearest mission at Angeles was 75 miles, or three days’
journey, from the inland margin of Seriland proper, and the intervening
territory was a depopulated expanse (“el grande despoblado”) according
to Villa-Señor,[90] ranged but not inhabited by Seri and Tepoka hunting
parties. Never traversed by white men, save those of Coronado’s parties
nearly two centuries before and of Escalante’s hurried expeditions of
1700, this “despoblado” was practically unknown; even the surprisingly
well-informed author of “Rudo Ensayo” was unaware of the existence
of Rio Bacuache, and noted only such prominent mountains as Cerro
Prieto and “Bacoatzi the Great in the land of the Seris”,[91] lying
far outside the tribal home. The remoteness of the missions from the
habitat of the tribe bears testimony to the dread with which they
were regarded, and to the slightness of the influence exerted on the
tribesmen by the zealous padres.
[88] Rudo Ensayo, Guiteras’ translation in Records of the American
Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. V, 1894, p. 124.
Bandelier identified the author as Padre Nentwig, S. J., of Huassavas,
eastern Sonora (Final Report of Investigations among the Indians, etc.,
part 1, in Papers of the Archæological Institute of America,” vol. III,
1890, p. 78). The name is written “John Nentuig” in a third-person
reference in Guiteras’ translation; but an editorial footnote adds, “No
doubt a printer’s mistake for Mentuig—L. F. F[lick]” (ibid., p. 191).
[89] Noticias Estadisticas del Estado de Sonora, by José Francisco
Velasco, Mexico, 1850, p. 124.
[90] Theatro Americano, Descripcion General de los Reynos, y
Provincias de la Nueva-España, y sus Jurisdicciones, Joseph Antonio de
Villa-Señor, y Sanchez, segunda parte; Mexico, 1748, p. 392.
[91] Op. cit., p. 133.
Despite the efforts of both priesthood and soldiery, the number of
Seri converts at the missions was limited. In 1700 there were ten
families at Populo; true, they had slipped away to maverick the
herds (“por ladrones de ganados”), but Escalante overtook them and
whipped them back to the shadow of the church; later he captured 120
Tepoka people (probably some twenty families, with a few strays), and
recaptured 300 backsliders (perhaps fifty families or more), and haled
them all to the mission, where lands were allotted to them and where
they were carefully guarded by the ecclesiastics—until opportunity
came for reescape; and to this congregation Escalante added a few
Seri prisoners taken on Tiburon, as noted above. In 1727 Brigadier
Pedro de Rivera noted a dozen tribes in central Sonora, including the
“Seris” and “Tepocas”, numbering 21,746 “of all ages and both sexes”,
all receiving the ministrations of “los Padres de la Compañia de
Jesvs”. He added: “Besides the above-named Indians there are found
in the middle part of the province of Ostimuri, in the western part
bordering on the Gulf of California, certain nations of pagans in small
numbers; they are the Salineros, Cocomaques, and Guaymas.”[92] Neither
the numbers of Seri and Tepoka at the missions, nor the respective
proportions at the missions and on the native habitat, were recorded
by the brigadier. According to Alegre, eighty families (including
those transferred from Pitic) were gathered at Populo and Angeles,
under the specially sedulous efforts of Judge José Rafael Gallardo,
in 1749;[93] although Padre Nicolas de Perera, “who for the longest
time bore with their insolent behavior, ... did not see more than 300
hundred persons when they had all come together”.[94] It would appear
that the great majority of the Populo and Angeles converts belonged to
the Tepoka, while others belonged to the Guayma and Upanguayma, with
whom the Seri were at war about that time;[95] yet there were enough
representatives of the Seri to gain a shocking character for sloth,
filth, thievery, treachery, obstinacy, and drunkenness. Assuming that
a quarter of the converts were Seri (and this ratio is larger than any
of the known records would indicate), there could hardly have been more
than a hundred of the tribe gathered about the several missions at
this palmiest time of Jesuit missionizing; and the records show that
by far the greater portion of these were women, children, cripples,
and vieillards, the warriors being commonly slain in the vigorous
proselyting expeditions conducted by the civil and military coadjutors
of the padres. If at this time the Seri population reached the 2,000
estimated by Dávila[96] and others, the proportion of proselytes (or
apostates from Seri naturalism) was but 5 per cent of the tribe and
naturally comprised the less vigorous and characteristic element. The
writer of “Rudo Ensayo” reckons that during six years preceding 1763
the Seri stole from the settlers (for eating, the sole use to which
they put such stock) “more than 4,000 mules, mares, and horses”,[97] i.
e., enough to sustain two or three hundred people, or a full thousand
if this meat formed no more than a fourth or a fifth of their diet, as
the contemporary records imply—and this was after the “extermination”
of the Seri by Parilla in 1750.
[92] Diario y Derrotero de lo Caminado, Visto, y Observado en el
Discurso de la Visita general de Precidios, situados en las Provincias
Ynternas de Nueva España; Guathemala, 1836, leg. 1514-1519.
[93] Historia de la Compañia de Jesus, vol. III, p. 290.
[94] Rudo Ensayo, p. 193.
[95] Bancroft, op. cit.. vol. I, pp. 532-533. The former were
annihilated or driven into the Yaqui country by 1763 (Rudo Ensayo, p.
166).
[96] Sonora Histórico y Descriptivo, p. 319.
[97] Ibid., p. 140.
Evidently the good padres greatly overestimated their knowledge of and
influence on this savage yet subtle tribe; actually they touched the
Seri character only lightly and temporarily, contributing slightly
to spontaneous acculturation, but never coming into relation with the
tribe as a whole.
And despite the efforts of both soldiers and priests, the savages
continued to ravage the settlements, to repel pioneering, to decimate
the herds and murder the vaqueros who sought to protect them, to
plunder everything portable and ambuscade punitive parties, and even
to engage in open hostilities. “In 1730 the Seris, Tepocas, Salineros,
and Tiburon islanders kept the province in great excitement, killing
twenty-seven persons and threatening all the pueblos with a general
conflagration”;[98] and both before and after this date the recorded
sanguinary episodes were too frequent for even passing mention, while
the indications between lines point to robberies and assassinations
and minor conflicts too many for full record even by the patient
chroniclers of the time.
[98] Bancroft, op. cit., p. 517.
* * * * *
Sometime about the beginning of the eighteenth century the Spanish
settlements pushed down Rio Sonora beyond the confluence of the
Opodepe to the last water gap, made conspicuous by a marble butte in
its throat and by the fact that here the sometimes subterranean flow
always rose to the surface in a permanent stream of pure and cool
water. Here, according to Padre Dominguez, “it was attempted to locate
the Presidio of Cinaloa against the rapacity of the Zeris, Tepocas,
and Pimas; and here General Idobro, of Cinaloa, wished to found a
pueblo of Tiburon Indians, brought for the purpose [probably from
Populo and Angeles] that they might be kept in subjection, but most
of them returned to their island and attempted to make attacks from
their hiding places.”[99] Nevertheless, the padre found 29 married
persons, 14 single, and 99 children of these “races” at the rancho. At
the time of his visit the place was known as Rancho del Pitquin; later
it became the Pueblo of Pitic, or Pitiqui, or Pitiquin, or San Pedro
de Pitic,[100] and long afterward the city of Hermosillo, while the
beautiful marble butte was christened Cerro de la Campana.
[99] “Diario del Padre Dominguez en Sonora y Sinaloa, 1731; manuscript
in archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
[100] This place on Rio Sonora is not to be confounded with the Rancho
(afterward Pueblo) of Pitiqui or San Diego de Pitiqui (The Geographical
and Historical Dictionary of America, and the West Indies * * * of
Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo, by G. A. Thompson, London, 1814, vol.
IV, p. 153), or Pitic chiquito (Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Est., vol.
VIII, 1860, p. 454), or Pitiquin, now the town of Pitiquito on Rio San
Ignacio.
By 1742 the settlements were so far extended as to warrant the
establishment of a royal fort in the water-gap at Pitic;[101] and the
ecclesiastics kept pace with the military movement by founding the
mission of San Pedro de la Conquista,[102] or “Pueblo de San Pedro
de la Conquista de Seris”[103] (now abbreviated to “Pueblo Seris”,
or merely “Seris”); both fort and mission being designed primarily
for better protection of the settlements against Seri sorties. These
outposts brought the missionaries and their soldier supporters a day’s
journey nearer Seriland, i. e., to within some 27 leagues (71 miles),
or two days’ journey, from Bahia Kino and the desert boundary of the
Seri stronghold; and although neither fort nor mission was continuously
maintained, the event marked a practically permanent advance on the
“despoblado” previously despoiled and desolated by the wandering Seri.
[101] Alegre, Historia de la Compañia de Jesus, tomo III, p. 288;
Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, segunda parte, p. 392; Rudo Ensayo, p.
193.
[102] Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 528.
[103] Reise-Erinnerungen und Abenteuer aus der neuen Welt, von C. A.
Pajeken, Bremen, 1861, p. 97.
Even before this date friction between missionaries and laymen had
grown out of the ecclesiastical charity for a people whose repeated
atrocities placed them outside the pale of sympathy on the part of
the industrial settlers; and this friction was felt especially about
the new presidio. In 1749 Colonel Diego Ortiz Parilla became governor
of Sonora, and began a rigorous rule over civilians, soldiers,
ecclesiastics, and Indians; and when the 80 families (classed as
Seri, but mainly of Tepoka and other tribes) domiciled at Populo were
dissatisfied with his transfers of land and people, he promptly met
their protests by arresting them and transporting the greater part of
them, including all the women and children, to various places, “some
even in Guatemala and other very distant parts of America.”[104]
Naturally this was resented, not only by the Seri messmates at the
missions, but to some extent by their kinsmen over the plains and along
the coast, with whom sporadic communication was maintained—chiefly
through spies, but partly by occasional escapes of the practically
imprisoned proselytes and the less frequent but more numerous
captures of new converts; and the Seri raids became more extended and
vindictive, reaching northward to Caborca, northeastward to Santa Ana
and Cucurpe, and eastward into the fertile valley of Rio Opodepe at
several points. Deeply incensed in his turn, Parilla undertook a war
of extermination—a war interesting not merely as an episode in Seri
history, but still more as a type of the Seri wars of two centuries.
Organizing a force of 500 men, and bringing canoes from Rio Yaqui, he
planned an expedition to Tiburon, to cover two months—and returned
with 28 prisoners, “all women and children and not a single Seri man”;
though he reported killing 10 or 12 warriors in action (according to
other accounts the slain comprised only 3 or 4 oldsters). These women
and children were domiciled at the pueblo of the Conquest of the Seri,
which in current thought thenceforth became the pueblo of the Seri,
and gradually passed into lore and later into history as the home of
the tribe rather than the mere penitentiary which it was in fact. The
padres waxed satirical over this quixotic conquest: Alegre recounts
that—
[104] Rudo Ensayo, p. 194; Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 535.
The good governor returned so vainglorious over his expedition
that it was even said he would punish anyone intimating that
there was a _Seri left in the world_, and proclaimed through
all America and Europe that he had extirpated by the roots that
infamous race.... The truth is that the force, on reaching
Tiburon, ascertained that the enemy had retreated to the
mountains; that none of the 75 Spaniards who accompanied the
governor could be induced, either by entreaties or threats,
to ascend in search of the Seri; but that some of the Pima
allies undertook to beleaguer the mountains, these, with one
or another of the officers, being the only ones that saw the
face of the enemy, and even these on two occasions only. From
the first sally they returned reporting that they had killed
3 of the Seri, and their empty word was accepted; the second
time they were so fortunate as to discover a village of women
and children, whom they took prisoners, and returned declaring
that the men had been left dead on the field. This famous
conquest, which the manuscript drawn up by the commander of the
expedition did not hesitate to compare with those of Alexander
and Cæsar, who were as nothing beside the governor of Sonora,
intoxicated much more the allied chief of the Pima, who had
taken the leading part in the final victory.[105]
[105] Historia de la Compaña de Jesus, tomo III, pp. 290-291; cf.
Apostolicos Afanes de la Compañia de Jesus, escritos por un Padre de la
misma Sagrada Religion de su Provincia de Mexico; Barcelona, 1754, pp.
366-368.
Eventually the vanity of this chief (Luis, or “Luys de Saric”) led to a
revolt on the part of the Pima tribe with the massacre of Padres Tello
and Rohen at Caborca.
Ortega was still more sarcastic in his fuller record of the expedition.
The skepticism of the padres as to the completeness of Parilla’s
extermination was well grounded, as was attested by the continuation
of Seri sorties with undiminished frequency and by the persistence of
hippophagy at the expense of the stockmen as already noted; moreover,
in the absence of records of maritime operations, in view of the
impracticability of transporting so large a force as that of Parilla
on balsas, and in the light of a still common application of the name
Tiburon to Sierra Seri and its environs as well as to the island, it
would seem to be an open question whether the much-lauded expedition
ever attained the insular stronghold, or even reached the seashore.
However this may be, the expedition was the first of a long series sent
out to exterminate one of the hardiest and acutest of tribes, wonted to
one of the hardest and aridest of habitats; and, save in the subsequent
advertising, all have yielded results more or less similar.
Another curtailment of the range of the Seri dates from the refounding
of the mission of “San José de Guaimas”[106] (on the site of the
present Guaymas) in 1751, and the establishment of a “rancho called
Opan Guaimas” some distance up the coast about the same time; the site
of the mission being that of a sanctuary located by Kino in 1701,
and revisited by Salvatierra and Ugarte, though never continuously
maintained. True, the padre and the ranchero suffered from the Seri,
who displaced the former, killed eight of his converts, burned the
church, and scattered the hundred families of the pueblo, afterward
keeping the Spaniards at a distance for ten years;[107] yet the
settlers only returned with new vigor, and gradually gained the
strength requisite for holding the town. Naturally the belligerency
of the Seri in this vicinity impressed the state authorities with the
desirability of further “extermination”; and when in 1756 a band of
the Seri, after a hypocritical suit for peace, entrenched themselves
among the all but inaccessible rocks and barrancas of Cerro Prieto
(a ragged sierra midway between Pitic and San José de Guaimas, which
for this reason came to be regarded—erroneously—as the headquarters
of the tribe), Don Juan Antonio de Mendoza, then governor of Sonora,
sent out a strong body of soldiery to dislodge or destroy them; but
after 200 of the soldiers were ambushed and 24 of them wounded, the
expedition returned to the capital, San Miguel de Horcasitas. Stung by
this defeat, Mendoza reorganized his force and led the way in person to
Cerro Prieto, where one of the four parties into which the force was
divided wrought such execution that, in the following May, there were
seen the bodies of enemies “dead and eaten by animals, dead and partly
buried in the earth, dead lying in caves, and dead in the water-pockets
of the sierra”.[108] In this battle Mendoza himself was ambushed and
attacked by three Seri archers, escaping only by the mediation of
his saint (“por medio de mi santo”); but during the ensuing night he
carried out the ingenious ruse of beating drums in different parts of
the canyon, which reechoed from the rocky heights with such terrifying
effect that the enemy fled, leaving him in victorious possession of the
field.
[106] Rudo Ensayo, p. 229 (misspelled “Guiamas”).
[107] Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 554.
[108] Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, cuarta série, tomo I, p.
85.
Again in 1760, when a band of the Seri (supposed to be temporarily
combined with the Pima) took refuge in Cerro Prieto, Governor Mendoza
attacked them with over 100 men; but a band of 19 Seri successfully
held this force at bay for several hours, until their chief (called
El Becerro) fell wounded and dying, yet retaining sufficient vitality
to rise, as the Spaniards approached, and transfix Mendoza with an
arrow—when the two leaders died together.[109] Mendoza was succeeded by
Governor José Tienda de Cuervo, who, in 1761, led a force of 420 men to
Cerro Prieto, where a still bloodier battle was fought, the Seri losing
49 killed and 63 captured, besides 322 horses; though the greater
part of their force escaped to the island of San Juan Bautista (San
Esteban?).[110]
[109] Historia de la Compañia de Jesus, tomo III, p. 298.
[110] Ibid., p. 299; Rudo Ensayo, p. 196. It is probable that part or
all of the captives were quartered at Pueblo Seri, though, the record
is silent on this point.
In 1763 Don Juan de Pineda succeeded to the governorship, and obtained
the cooperation of a force of national troops under Colonel Domingo
Elizondo:
Headquartering in El Pitiqui, he commenced active war against
the said Seris, but was unable to reduce them, because, being
separated and dispersed over their vast territory, they wore
out the troops, who only occasionally stumbled on one little
rancheria or another. For this reason, and because in many
years they could not exterminate them, and desiring to leave
the country, they opened negotiations with them, making them
small presents and offering them royal protection if they would
surrender peacefully. Some of them pretended to do this and
assembled at Pitiqui, where they remained with the same bad
faith as always, fed at the expense of the royal treasury,
when the troops retired, leaving the evil uncured, but merely
covered.[111]
[111] Resumen de Noticias, op. cit., vol. I, p. 224.
In the same year Padre Tomás Ignacio Lizazoin reported, for the
information of the viceroy, that the ravages of the Seri and other
Indians “had caused the almost total abandonment of Pimeria and Sonora
provinces”, and proposed plans for protection which were apparently
never carried out.[112]
[112] Bancroft, op. cit., p. 565.
* * * * *
The aggressive and bloody policy of Parilla, Mendoza, and Cuervo
undoubtedly widened the divergence between the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities, and brought to nought the pacific policy of the latter.
Inspired by fervid zeal, the good padres stretched the mantle of
charity to its utmost over their converts, bringing into the fold all
whom they could coax or coerce, and clinging unto all whom they could
subsidize or suppress. Uninformed or misinformed concerning the extent
of Seriland and the numbers and real traits of its inhabitants on their
native heath, and professionally prone to see the most favorable side
of the situation, they imagined themselves making conquest over a cruel
and refractory tribe; yet careful review of the records indicates that
they deluded themselves, and in some measure distorted history, through
overweening notions concerning their progress in evangelizing the
Seri. Actually, their converts were the lame and halt and blind left
behind in the harder-pressed raids, captives taken in battle by the
intrepid Escalante and other soldiers, apostates and outlaws ostracized
and driven off by their fellows, spies sent out to find the way for
further rapacity,[113] and the general riffraff and offscouring of the
tribe, who esteemed parasitism above the hereditary independence of
their kin. This condition is attested by later examples; it is also
attested by the rapidly growing divergence of the ecclesiastical and
civil policies; it is equally attested by at least partial recognition
of the situation on the part of several of the padres: Villa-Señor,
writing about 1745, parades the mission and two pueblos of the tribe,
and says, “All the Ceris Indians are Christians” (“Todos los Indios
Ceris, son Cristianos”);[114] yet he adds that “it is rare to find one
who does not cling to the idolatry of their paganism”, and elsewhere
describes the great “despoblado” extending to the coast as inhabited by
pagan Seri and Tepoka Indians (“habitado de los Indios Seris, y Tepoca,
Gentiles”).[115] Venegas, writing about 1750, refers to “the Seris
and Tepocas, who are either infidels or imperfectly reduced, and tho’
Father Salva Tierra civilized them and the missionaries have baptized
many, they still retain such a love for their liberty and customs as
all the labours of the missionaries have not been able to obliterate,
so that it is impossible to incorporate them with the missions by
mildness”;[116] and his last word of them notes their massacre of
Padres Tello and Rohen in Caborca, and ends with an invocation “for
the complete reduction of these unhappy savages, now involved in the
shadow of death”.[117] So, also, the talented author of “Rudo Ensayo”,
writing in 1763, says of the Seri:
[113] Captain Fernando Sanchez Salvador, in his official
Representaciones to the Crown in 1751, complains that these Indians
“are allowed on frivolous pretexts to visit the presidios, and they
make use of the privilege to discover weak points and to plan attacks”
(Bancroft, op. cit., p. 542).
[114] Theatro Americano, segunda parte, p. 401.
[115] Ibid., p. 392.
[116] History of California, vol. II, p. 190.
[117] Ibid., p. 211. It is improbable that the Seri had anything to do
with this particular butchery. According to Coues, the latter padre
was killed at Sonoita; and he renders the name “Ruen or Ruhen” (On
the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer; the Diary and Itinerary of Francisco
Garcés, etc., 1900, vol. I, p. 88).
They have always been wild, resisting the law of God, even
those who had removed from among them to Populo, Nacameri, and
Angeles, and who constituted the smallest part of the nation.
And even these few, in order to have constant communication
with and give information to their heathen relatives, used
to go, as if they could not arouse suspicion, to spy out in
other villages what they wanted to know for their plans, and
immediately giving the intelligence they obtained to the
runaway Indians, these would act accordingly and nobody could
guess how they acquired the necessary information.[118]
[118] Op. cit., p. 193.
Again, in summarizing the relations with the tribe, this anonymous
author naively remarked:
And at the present day, notwithstanding that in different
encounters during the campaign of November, 1761, and before
and since then, more than forty men have been killed by our
arms and over seventy women and children have been captured,
still they are as fierce as ever and will not lend an ear to
any word of reconciliation.[119]
[119] Op. cit., pp. 195-196.
In general, the Jesuit history of the Seri is clear enough with
respect to the small extruded fraction, but nearly blind to the normal
tribe; there is nothing to indicate clear recognition of Seriland as
a hereditary habitat and stronghold; yet the records are such as to
define the salient episodes in Seri history as seen from a distantly
external view-point. Nor can it be forgotten that the erudite
evangelists made a deep and indelible impression on the intellectual
side of Sonora, and drew the strong historical outline on which their
own relations to the civil authorities on the one hand and to the Seri
Indians on the other hand are cast by the light of later knowledge.
The discordance between the civil and military authorities and the
dominant ecclesiastical order of Sonora sounded to Ciudad Mexico, and
eventually echoed to Madrid, and was doubtless one of a series of
factors which led to the needlessly harsh expulsion of the scholarly
Jesuits in 1767—and hence to a hiatus in the history of the province
and its tribes.
* * * * *
Although the padres knew little of the habits and customs of the “wild”
Seri save through hearsay, some of their notes are of ethnologic value:
Villa-Señor located them on the deserts extending from Pitic and
Angeles to Tepopa bay, and added:
They hold and occupy various rancherias, and subsist by the
chase of deer, bura [mule-deer], rabbits, hares, and other
animals, and also on the cattle they are able to steal from the
Spaniards, and on fish which they harpoon with darts in the
sea, and on the roots in which the land abounds.[120]
[120] Theatro Americano, p. 401.
Villa-Señor distinguished the “Tepocas”, whom he combined with the
“Gueimas” and “Jupangueimas”. Alegre located the Seri on the coast of
the gulf from a few leagues north of the mouth of Rio Yaqui to Bahia
San Juan de Bautista (Bahia Kino), adding, “with them may be classed
the Guaimas, few in number and of the same language”.[121] Writing
about the same time, José Gallardo observed: “The distinction is slight
between the Seri and Upanguaima, the one and the other having the
same idiom” (“Poco es la distincion que hay entre seri y upanguaima,
... y unos y otros casi hablan un mismo idioma”).[122] The author of
“Rudo Ensayo” wrote: “The Guaimas speak the same language, with but
little difference, as the Seris.”[123] He mistook Cerro Prieto as
their principal retreat; mentioned the mountains of Bacoatzi Grande,
Las Espuelas, and others as other haunts; noted Tiburon and San Juan
Bautista (San Esteban?) islands as less-known shelters, and gave
extended attention to “the poison they use for their arrows” as “the
most virulent known in these parts”; for “even in cases where the skin
only is wounded, the injured part begins to swell, and the swelling
extends all over the body to such a size that the flesh bursts and
falls to pieces, causing death in twenty-four hours.” To test this
poison, the Seri “bandage tightly the thigh or arm of one of their
robust young men; then make an incision with a flint and let the blood
flow away from the wound. When the blood is some distance from the
incision, they apply the point of an arrow to it, steeped in the deadly
poison. If at the approach of the point of the arrow the blood begins
to boil and recedes, the poison is of the right strength, and the man
who lends his blood for the experiment brushes it out with his hand to
prevent the poison from being introduced into his veins.” He was unable
“to find out with certainty of what deadly materials the deadly poison
is composed. Many a thing is spoken of, such as heads of irritated
vipers cut at the very moment of biting into a piece of lung; also half
putrefied human flesh and other filth with which I am unwilling to
provoke the nausea of the reader.” He added the opinion that “the main
ingredient is some root.”[124] Padre Joseph Och, who, with other German
evangels including padres Mittendorf, Pfefferkorn, and Ruen (or Rohen),
was stationed in northwestern Sonora shortly before the eviction of the
Jesuits, was one of the recorders of aboriginal traits and features,
though his record (like that of most of his confrères) is impoverished
by his failure to discriminate tribes; but one of his notes is specific:
[121] Historia de la Compañia de Jesus, p. 216.
[122] The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. III (The Native Races,
vol. III), 1882, p. 704.
[123] Op. cit., p. 166.
[124] Ibid., pp. 197, 198.
As an extraordinary trapping [Zierde] the Seris pierce the
nasal septum and hang small colored stones, which swing in
front of the mouth, thereto by strings. A few carry, suspended
from the nose, little blue-green pebbles, in which they repose
great faith. They prize these very highly, and one must give
them at least a horse or a cow in exchange for one.[125]
[125] Nachrichten von verschiedenen Ländern des Spanisches Amerika,
aus eigenhändigen Aufsätzen einiger Missionare der Gesellschaft Jesu,
herausgegeben von Christoph Gottlieb von Murr, erster Theil; Halle,
1809, p. 255.
It is significant fact, and one attesting the physical and intellectual
distance of the padres from the normal Seri, that so few notes of
ethnologic value were made during the Jesuits’ régime. With a single
exception, so far as is known,[126] they recorded not a word of the
Seri tongue, not a distinctive custom beyond those evidently of common
knowledge, none of the primitive ceremonies and ideas such as attracted
their coadjutors in Canada and elsewhere. They made no reference to the
alleged cannibalism so conspicuous in later lore; but their silence on
this point cannot be regarded as evidential, since they were equally
silent concerning nearly all the characteristic customs and traits.
The neighboring Papago tribe met the invaders frankly as man to man,
displaying a notable combination of receptivity and self-containment
which enabled them to assimilate just so much of the Caucasian culture
as they deemed desirable, yet to maintain their purity of blood and
distinctiveness of culture for centuries; the Seri, on the other
hand, met the invaders as enemies, to be first feared, then blinded,
balked, and bled by surreptitious and sinister devices, and finally
to be assassinated through ambuscade or remorseless treachery; and it
is manifest that they surpassed the gentle padres in shrewdness and
strategy, using them as playthings and tools, and carefully concealing
their own characters and motives the while.
[126] The Noticia de las Personas qua han escrito ó publicado algunas
obras sobre Idiomas que se hablan en la Republica (of Mexico), by Dr
José Guadalupe Romero, includes a MS. “Vocabulario de las Lenguas
Eudeve, Pina y Seris”, written by Padre Adamo Gilg (Bol. Soc. Mex.
Geog. y Estad., 1860, tomo VIII, p. 378).
* * * * *
With the passing of the Jesuits, the publication of Sonoran records
received a check from which the province has never completely
recovered. True, the place of the order was partly taken by the Colegio
Apostólico de Querétaro, which promptly dispatched fourteen Franciscan
friars to Sonora, early in 1768, to take possession of the old missions
and to found others;[127] it is also true that civil enactments and
commissions, as well as military orders and reports, increased with the
growth of population; but comparatively few of the events and actions
found their way to the press. Seri episodes continued to recur with
irregular frequency; according to Dávila, the Seri outbreaks and wars
“exceed fifty in number since the conquest of Sonora”,[128] and there
are decisive indications that the Franciscan régime was not without
its due quota of strife. Moreover, the period was one of somewhat
exceptionally vigorous pioneering, of the initiation of mining and
agriculture, and of conquest over the “despoblado” formerly ranged and
inhabited by the Seri. It was during this period that the Seri were
permanently dislodged from their outlying haunts and watering-places
in Cerro Prieto; and it was during this period, too, that exploration
and settlement were extended to Rio Bacuache with such energy as to
displace the Seri from their other outlying refuge in the barrancas of
this stream. But, as the events and lines of progress multiplied, the
burden for the contemporary chronicler augmented without corresponding
increase in incentive to writing, and it is little wonder that the
custom of writing, copying, manifolding, and printing the contemporary
records fell into desuetude.
[127] Dávila, Sonora Histórico y Descriptivo, p. 10; Bancroft, op.
cit., p. 672.
[128] Ibid., p. 319.
Despite the meagerness of the Franciscan chronicles, the friars of
this order are to be credited with making and recording one of the
most noteworthy essays toward the subjugation of the Seri—an essay
involving the first and last actual attempt to found a Caucasian
establishment within Seriland proper. The ecclesiastical corps, sent
out from Querétaro college under the presidency of Fray Mariano
Antonio de Buena y Alcalde, reached Sonora early in 1768, and were
distributed among the missions to which they were respectively assigned
before the end of June; and Fray Mariano participated in the efforts
to subdue the Seri ensconced in Cerro Prieto. After some months of
apparently nominal siege, the hostiles straggled out of their retreat,
whereupon “the governor, seeing them assembled and peaceful, besought
the friar to instruct and baptize them”;[129] the friar promptly
acquiesced, with the provision that he should be furnished with the
requisite appurtenances of a mission, including not only a church and
sacred ornaments, but a house and living for a resident minister.
The requirements delayed procedure, but resulted in the appointment
of Fray Juan Crisóstomo Gil de Bernabe (already designated by the
Querétaro college as Fray Mariano’s successor) to take charge of the
Seri mission. “The new president, desiring to gratify his proper zeal
and the insistence of the governor as to the need of those miserable
Indians for the bread of doctrinism”, obtained candles and wine from
private benefactors, and, despite his inability to find even a hut for
shelter, established a sanctuary in the Rancheria de los Seris (Pueblo
Seri) on November 17, 1772:
[129] Crónica Seráfica y Apostólica del Colegio de Propaganda Fide de
la Santa Cruz de Querétaro en la Nueva España ... escrita por el Padre
Fray Juan Domingo Arricivita, 2ª parte, Mexico, 1792, p. 426.
It was impossible to satisfy the ambition of the missionaries
to catechize all the Indians, because, although the whole
nation was peaceable, no small portion of them were devoid of
desire to hear doctrinism, as many of them had withdrawn to
their ancient lurking haunts, principally on Isla Tiburon,
whence they came to the Presidio Horcasitas, making false
displays to the governor of great fidelity and obedience,
petitioning that they should not be taken from the island, but
should be given a minister to baptize them the same as those
at Pitic; and they did not wish to join those nor to leave
the rocky fastness of their libertinage and asylum of their
crimes.... To conceal their purposes, they petitioned that a
town for them should be established on the opposite coast,
where they might assemble on leaving the island. Their request
was embarrassing because on examination of the coast there was
found only a single scanty spring in a carrizal in a playa-like
country [toda la tierra como de playa], with little fuel and no
timber.
Not unnaturally Fray Crisóstomo hesitated to locate a mission on the
practically uninhabitable site, in which, moreover, “the mission
would be of no utility because the Indians did not really wish to
leave their island and submit to religious instruction, nor could the
coast supply the necessary food, as it was a barren sand-waste, so
that it would become necessary for the King to constantly supply
provisions, else the converts would have a pretext for wandering
around and avoiding attention to the catechism.” But the governor
was obdurate, and only complained to the viceroy and the Querétaro
college. Between fires, Fray Crisóstomo yielded, and on November 26,
1772, proceeded to Carrizal and established himself as a minister,
without company or escort save a little boy to serve as acolyte. “With
the aid of the Indios Tiburones the friar erected a jacal [or hut
bower][130] to serve as a church, and a tiny hut as a habitation, and
began immediately, with the greatest kindness, to convoke the people
for religious instruction, only to see that the desires they had
expressed to the governor to become Christians were not deep enough
to bring them from their island to attend services—except a few who
came and took part in the prayers when they thought fit. But as the
congregation at the place was only nominal, and with only three jacales
under control, so also was the instruction they sought; and because of
both the condition of the land and their wandering instinct, which is
in them almost a necessity and more excusable than in other Indians,
because neither within their island nor on the coast is the territory
fit for cultivation, and still less for the stability essential to
civil and political life”, the missionary naturally despaired of
substantial progress; indeed, “the only fruit for which he could hope,
under his mode of living, was reduced either to a child or an adult
whom he could, in special circumstances, shrive in extremis.” In this
disheartening condition the friar spent the winter from near the
end of November to March 6, 1773. Then, as appears from an official
declaration, there came to him by night an Indian called Yxquisis, with
a trumpery tale about a revolt on the part of the Piato and Apache,
which led the guileless friar away from the poor shelter of his jacal
under the guidance of the Indian. At the inquest Yxquisis confessed,
although with many falsehoods (“con muchas mentiras”), that he had
stoned the friar, but “without stating any motive for committing such
an atrocious crime”. Yet even before the story reached Horcasitas two
“Indios del Tiburon”, supposed to be implicated, were beaten to death
with sticks on the spot in which the friar’s body was found,[131] and
the body was buried by a chief of the tribe. And so ended the mission
of Carrizal in the land of the Seri.
[130] Doubtless the structures approached the conventional Seri
pattern, illustrated in the accompanying plate vi, from photographs
taken on Tiburon in 1895.
[131] Arricivita, op. cit., pp. 426-429, 520-524.
[Illustration: PL. VI
RECENTLY OCCUPIED RANCHERIA, TIBURON ISLAND]
[Illustration: TYPICAL HOUSE INTERIOR, TIBURON ISLAND]
Traditions of this Franciscan mission still linger about Hermosillo
and at Rancho San Francisco de Costa Rica, and they, like Arricivita’s
account, indicate that the churchly jacal was planted either hard by
Pozo Escalante or at a traditional Ojito Carrizal (Aguaje Parilla, not
found in the surveys of 1895), supposed to lie a few miles farther
northwestward. All the probabilities point to Pozo Escalante as the
site, despite the fact that no cane now grows there; the topographic
description applies exactly, while the state of the padre’s remains,
when exhumed six months later, attests the dry and saline soil in
this vicinity. None of these conditions exist about Aguaje Parilla at
the southeastern base of Sierra Seri. The present absence of living
carrizal at Pozo Escalante is of little significance, since the
extinction of the plant might easily have been wrought either by the
stock of later expeditions or by the rise of the salt-water horizon
accompanying the local subsidence of the land; certainly dried roots
and much-weathered fragments of cane still remain about the margin of
the playa extending southward from the well.
The episode culminating in the assassination of Fray Crisóstomo was
characteristic: beset at all points and rankling under the invasion
of their range, the Seri sought anew to delude the governor with fair
words, using their own reprobates and apostates at Pitic and elsewhere
to point their asseverations; and remembering the facility with which
the earlier ecclesiastics were duped into unwitting allies, they made
the kindly and long-suffering friars the immediate object of their
petitions. But some of the tribe galled under the lengthy and still
lengthening blood-feud too deeply to tolerate the alien presence; and
one of these, either alone or supported by the alleged accomplices or
others, tried a typical ruse, suggested less by need than inherited
habit; for the friar was helpless in their hands, and might have been
slain in his jacal as easily as in the open. Typically, too, the
assassination initiated or deepened factional dissension and further
bloodshed.
The Franciscan records are of even less ethnologic use than those
of the Jesuits. Beyond his incidental expressions concerning Seri
character and custom in connection with the founding and abandonment
of Carrizal, it need only be noted that Arricivita makes hardly
a reference to the Tepoka, but habitually combines the “Seris y
Piatos”—the latter perhaps representing the “confederate Pima” of
“Rudo Ensayo”, or the Soba occupying the lower reaches of Rio San
Ignacio about that time.
Among the meager and scattered Franciscan records is a letter from
Fray Francisco Troncoso, dated September 18, 1824, which is of note as
containing an estimate of the Seri population at the time:
This island [Tiburon] has more than a thousand savage
inhabitants, enemies of those of California, and it has
frequently occurred that, on balsas of reeds, ... they have
crossed over to invade the mission [of Loreto], killing and
robbing some of those they found there.[132]
[132] Incorporated in Escudero, Noticias Estadisticas de Sonora y
Sinaloa; Mexico, 1849, p. 18.
The record is of value also as indicating that the Seri traversed
the gulf freely, and raided settlements and tribes of the peninsula
ruthlessly as those of the mainland.
* * * * *
The Carrizal episode was followed by a half century of comparative
silence concerning the Seri, though various contemporary records and
later compilations indicate customary continuance of the Seri wars.
Among the more useful compilations is that of Velasco; and among the
more important episodes noted by him was the Cimarrones-Migueletes war
of 1780.[133] The Cimarrones included the greater part of the Seri of
Tiburon and the Tepoka (then estimated at 2,000 of both sexes),[134]
together with the “Pimas called _Piatos_, of the pueblos of Cavorca,
Tubutama, Oquitoa, etc.”, and supposedly certain other representatives
of the Pima and Apache, who had shortly before marauded Magdalena
and sacked Saric, killing a dozen persons;[135] the Migueletes were
national troops assigned to Sonora under the command of Colonel Domingo
Elizondo. The forces met in several bloody battles in Cerro Prieto,
at Jupanguaimas, and at Presidio Viejo; and the former, or at any
rate the Seri, were once more “annihilated” (“reducidos a nulidad”).
Nevertheless, the hydra-headed tribe retained enough vitality in 1807
to induce Governor Alejo Garcia Conde to send an army of a thousand men
to Guaymas, en route to Tiburon, to repeat the extirpation—though the
expedition came to naught for international reasons.
[133] Noticias Estadisticas del Estado de Sonora; Mexico, 1850, p. 124
et seq.
[134] Ibid., p. 132.
[135] Bancroft, op. cit., vol. II, p. 682. It is incredible that
such a confederation of so incongruous elements could ever have been
effected; it is incomparably more probable that there was a succession,
of outbreaks of the Seri, Piato, and Apache, each stimulated by the
removal of soldiers for defense against the other enemies, just as Seri
outrages follow Yaqui outbreaks today; but it was undoubtedly a custom
of the times (a custom still existing) to connect the several enemies
in current thought and speech.
Among the more useful contemporary records is an unpublished manuscript
report by Don José Cortez, dated 1799, found in the Force library,
translated by Buckingham Smith, and abstracted by Lieutenant A. W.
Whipple for the Report of the Pacific Railway Survey. A subsection of
this report is devoted to “the Seris, Tiburones, and Tepocas”. It runs:
The _Seri_ Indians live towards the coast of Sonora, on the
famous Cerro Prieto, and in its immediate neighborhood. They
are cruel and sanguinary, and at one time formed a numerous
band, which committed many excesses in that rich province. With
their poisoned shafts they took the lives of many thousand
inhabitants, and rendered unavailing the expedition that was
set on foot against them from Mexico. At this time they are
reduced to a small number; have, on many occasions, been
successfully encountered by our troops; and are kept within
bounds by the vigilance of the three posts (_presidios_)
established for the purpose. None of their customs approach, at
all, to those of civilization; and their notions of religion
and marriage exist under barbarous forms, such as have before
been described in treating of the most savage nations. The
_Tiburon_ and _Tepoca_ Indians are a more numerous tribe, and
worthy of greater consideration than the Seris, but their
bloodthirsty disposition and their customs are the same. They
ordinarily live on the island of Tiburon, which is connected
with the coast of Sonora by a narrow inundated isthmus, over
which they pass by swimming when the tide is up, and when it is
down, by wading, as the water then only reaches to the waist,
or not so high. They come onto the continent, over which they
make their incursions, and, after the commission of robberies,
they return to the island; on which account no punishment
usually follows their temerity. It is now twenty-three or
twenty-four years since the plan was approved by His Majesty,
and ordered to be carried out, of destroying them on their
island; but, until the present season, no movement has been
made to put it into execution. To this end the troops of
Sonora are being equipped; a corvette of the department of San
Blas aids in the expedition and two or three vessels of troops
from the companies stationed at the port of that name on the
South sea.[136]
[136] Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most
practicable and economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean, vol. III, part 3: Report upon the Indian
Tribes, 1855, pp. 122-123. The original Cortez manuscript is now in the
Library of Congress.
The record is significant as voicing an ill-founded discrimination
of the wandering Seri from the inhabitants of Tiburon, as echoing
persistent conception of Tiburon as a peninsula, and as summarizing the
characteristics of the tribe recognized at the end of the last century.
* * * * *
Meantime population and industries increased, while civil and military
development pursued its course; the Presidio of Pitic expanded into a
pueblo, and later into the city which gradually adopted the cognomen
of General José Maria Gonzalez Hermosillo, a hero of Sonora in the
stirring times of 1810-1812; Pueblo Seri became Mexicanized, retaining
only a few Seri families in 1811, according to Manuel Cabrera;[137]
Guaymas grew into a port of some commercial note; pearl fishing
progressed along the coast and prospecting in the interior; despite
constant harrying by Seri raids, the rancho of Bacuachito (probably the
Bacoachizo of Escudero[138]) became a flourishing pueblo; and plans for
ports in the northern gulf were broached and even tested. Moreover,
the dawn of the nineteenth century stirred scientific interest in the
native tribes, including the obstinate owners of Tiburon—an interest
stimulated by Humboldt’s American journeys of 1803.
[137] In Velasco, op. cit., p. 137.
[138] Noticias Estadisticas de Sonora y Sinaloa, Compiladas y
Amplificadas para la Comision de Estadistica Militar, por el Lic. D.
José Agustin de Escudero; Mexico, 1849, p. 88.
Combining earlier cartography (originating with Kino) and persistent
tradition up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, Humboldt
mapped “Isla de Tiburon” nearly a degree too far northward, and
separated from the mainland by a greatly exaggerated strait. The land
portion of the map is strikingly defective, revealing in numerous
imaginary mesas the author’s penchant for Mexican plateaus, while “Rio
Hiaqui” (“de Yaqui ou de Sonora” in the text) is combined with Rio
Sonora and given an intermediate position, and “Rio de la Ascencion”
(Rio San Ignacio) is represented as passing through an estuary into the
gulf just off the northern end of Tiburon; the “Indiens Seris” being
located on a figmentary mesa north of the latter river and due west
of Caborca, Pitic (apparently a composite of San Diego de Pitic, or
modern Pitiquito, with San Pedro de Pitic, or modern Hermosillo), and
Altar.[139] His text corresponds:
[139] Atlas Géographique et Physique du Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne,
par Al.a de Humboldt; Paris, 1811, carte générale.
On the right bank of Rio de la Asencion live some very
bellicose Indians, the Seris, to whom many Mexican savants
ascribe an Asiatic origin by reason of the analogy offered
by their name with that of the Seri located by the ancient
geographers at the base of the Ottorocorras mountains.[140]
[140] Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland, troisième partie: Essai Politique
sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, tome I; Paris, 1811, pp. 296-297.
Naturally most of the scientific inquiries of the time were, like those
of Humboldt, based on tradition rather than on direct observation.
* * * * *
Toward the end of the first third of the century an important
contribution to actual knowledge of Seriland and the Seri at last
grew out of the pearl industry. In May, 1825, Lieutenant R. W. H.
Hardy, R. N., was commissioned by the “General Pearl and Coral Fishery
Association of London” to investigate the pearl fisheries of the
Californian gulf; and his task was performed with promptness and
energy. On February 13, 1826, he visited Pitic (under Hermosillo):
Half a league short [south] of it is another small place,
called the Pueblo de los Céres, inhabited by a squalid race
of Indians who are said to indulge in constant habits of
intemperance and to have lost the fire of the warrior. In its
stead they manifest the sullen stupidity peculiar to those who,
feeling themselves unfitted for companionship, strive to vent
their pusillanimous rage upon objects the most helpless and
unoffending, such as women, children, and dogs, who appear to
be the chief victims of their revenge.[141]
[141] Travels in the Interior of Mexico in 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1828;
London, 1829, p. 95.
His chief object in visiting Pitic was to obtain information concerning
Tiburon, its natives, and its pearl-oyster beds; and he was rewarded
with characteristic accounts of the ferocity of the tribesmen and their
use of poisoned arrows, which he received with some incredulity.[142]
[142] Ibid., p. 107.
After examining the principal pearl fisheries of the western coast,
Lieutenant Hardy reached the “Sal si Puedes” in the throat of the
gulf, and, on August 9, “got aslant of wind, which carried us up to
the northwest end of Tiburow island”[143]—i. e., apparently over the
precise route sailed by Padre Ugarte in 1721. Anchoring on the island,
he had the good fortune first to meet a native able to speak Spanish,
and later to successfully treat the sick wife of the principal chief,
after which he was treated with great consideration, and—unwittingly
on his part—adopted into the tribe as a member of the chief clan by
the ceremony of face painting, the symbol being that of the turtle
totem, to judge from the superficial description. Taking slightly
brackish water, just as Ugarte had done one hundred and five years
before, and arming his crew, he spent the night near the rancheria
(evidently in Bahia Agua Dulce). Next morning he “traveled over the
greater part of the island” (!) in fruitless search for pearls and
gold, and in the afternoon “got under weigh, and stood into a bay of
the continent to the northeast of the island,” discovering and naming
“Sargent’s Point”, together with “Cockle Harbour”, and “Bruja’s bay”
in the lee of the point, and also “Arnold’s Island”; this island being
apparently the present prominent cusp of Punta Sargent, now connected
with the mainland by a continuous wave-built bar rising a little way
above reach of tide. Anchoring in the bay named from his vessel (_La
Bruja_), he examined the adjacent shore, ascertaining that “there is
no fresh water near the spot, except during the rainy season, which
only lasts about a month or six weeks”, nor “any vestige of Indians to
be seen except a solitary hut erected by the Tiburons to serve them
when they go there to fish”; and, noting the report that Padre Kino had
visited this point, he quite appositely questioned the truth of the
tradition, partly on the ground of the absence of fresh water, partly
because “the Tepoca Indian establishment” mentioned in the tradition
“is many leagues farther to the northward.” Awakened by an approaching
storm, he was under way next morning at daylight, and, getting out of
the “bad holding ground”, was caught by a gale and carried back to his
“old anchorage in Freshwater Bay”, where he found the Indians rejoicing
over the success of a ceremonial incantation to which they ascribed
his return. The reconnaissance map is ill-drawn, locating “Fresh Water
B.” on the mainland side and apparently combining “Sargent’s Point”
and “Arnold’s Island” as “Sargents I.”; “San Miguel Pt.” is properly
located, and idealized route lines traverse the “Canal peligroso de
San Miguel” (El Infiernillo), which is of greatly exaggerated width.
The careful itinerary shows, however, that Hardy scarcely entered this
strait, and made but three or four anchorages in the vicinity—i. e., in
Bahia Agua Dulce, in Bahia Bruja, probably in Cockle harbor (or “Cochla
Inlet”), and finally off Isla Patos.
[143] Ibid., p. 280.
Hardy’s notes on the Indians are first hand, and hence of exceptional
value. He says:
The Indians on the island of Tiburon are very stout, tall, and
well-built fellows, exceedingly like the Twelchii tribe of
Indians in Patagonia, and with a language so like theirs that I
imagined I was transported back into those wild regions. They
by no means look so ferocious as they are represented, and
there is something peculiarly mild in the countenances of the
females. Their dress is a sort of blanket, extending from the
hips to the knees. But most of the old women have this part
of the body covered with the skins of the eagle, having the
feathers turned _towards the flesh_. The upper part of the body
is entirely exposed, and their hair is dressed on the top of
the head in a knot which greatly sets off the effect of their
painted faces. The men use bows and stone-pointed arrows; but
whether they are poisoned I do not know. They use likewise a
sort of wooden mallet called Macána, for close quarters in war.
They have a curious weapon which they employ for catching fish.
It is a spear with a double point, forming an angle of about 5
degrees. The insides of these two points, which are 6 inches
long, are jagged; so that when the body of a fish is forced
between them it cannot get away on account of the teeth.[144]
[144] Op. cit., p. 289-290.
He saw “about fifteen or twenty canoes made of three long bamboo
bundles fastened together”, and observed that, when engaged in turtle
fishing, the Indian “paddles himself from the shore on one of these
by means of a long elastic pole of about 12 or 14 feet in length, the
wood of which is the root of a thorn called mesquite, growing near
the coast”, this pole serving also as a harpoon shaft, provided with
a harpoon head and cord, such as those still in use. Respecting the
invocatory appurtenances, he says:
My attention was directed by the old women to a pile of bushes
outside the hut, which had a staff of about 5 feet in length
sticking up through the center. From the upper end of the
staff was suspended by a cord 12 or 14 inches long a round
stone ball, and to this ball was fastened another string
furnished with bits of cork, surrounded with small feathers
stuck into them at the distance of about 3 inches apart: the
only use of the stone ball being to prevent the wind from
blowing out horizontally the string which was furnished with
feathers.... Upon examining the bushy pile, I discovered a
wooden figure with a _carved hat_, and others of different
shapes and sizes, as well also as leathern bags, the contents
of which I was not permitted to explore.[145]
[145] Op. cit., pp. 294-295.
He also mentions that “in their festivities the Indians wear the head
(with the horns on)” of the bura or mule deer. He adds:
It is believed that the Céres Indians have discovered a method
of poisoning their arrows, and that they do it in this way:
They kill a cow and take from it its liver. They then collect a
number of rattlesnakes, scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas,
which they confine in a hole with the liver. The next process
is to beat them with sticks in order to enrage them, and being
thus infuriated, they fasten their fangs and exhaust their
venom upon each other and upon the liver. When the whole mass
is in a high state of corruption the old women take the arrows
and pass their points through it. They are then allowed to dry
in the shade, and it is said that a wound inflicted by them
will prove fatal. Others again say that the poison is obtained
from the juice of the yerba de la flécha (arrow wort).[146]
[146] Ibid., pp. 298, 299.
He purchased some of the arrows, which were stone-tipped, and had
“certainly had an unguent applied to them”.
He was impressed by indications of family affection, and noted the
custom of having two wives. Concerning tribal relations he says:
These people have been always considered extremely ferocious,
and there is little doubt, from their brave and warlike
character, that they may formerly have devastated a great part
of the country; but in modern days their feuds are nearly
confined to a neighboring tribe of the same name as themselves
(Céres), who speak the same language and in all probability
originally descended from the same stock. They are said to be
inferior to those of this island both in courage and stature,
and they are never suffered to cross the channel. From what I
was told * * * the Tiburow Céres have lately returned from a
sanguinary war with the Tépoca Céres, in which the former were
victorious.[147]
[147] Ibid., pp. 299, 300.
Later in his itinerary Hardy noted a typical Yaqui revolution, with
a characteristic effort to secure the cooperation of the Seri.[148]
He defined the Seri habitat as “the island of Tiburow, the coast of
Tépoca, and the pueblo of Los Céres, near Pitic”;[149] and he estimated
the population at “3,000 or 4,000 at the very utmost”,[150] and quoted
the estimate of Don José Maria Retio, viz., that the Seri population of
Tiburon was 1,000 to 1,500.[151]
[148] Ibid., p. 395 et seq.
[149] Ibid., p. 437.
[150] Ibid., p. 438.
[151] Ibid., pp. 235, 540.
Like most of those visitors to the Seri who have returned to tell their
tale, Hardy “praised the bridge that carried him over” and gave the
tribe passable character—worse, of course, than that of any other, yet
hardly so bad as painted at Pitic.
A noteworthy traveler in western America during 1840-1842 was M. Duflot
de Mofras, an attache of the French legation in Mexico. He traversed
the Californias and entered Sonora, and while he failed to see
Seriland, he made a note on the tribe, valuable as a current estimate
of the population:
At the gates of the city of Hermosillo is established a Mission
which contains 500 Seri Indians; 1,000 of them, inhabit the
coast to the north of Guaymas and Île du Requin (Isla del
Tiburon).[152]
[152] Exploration du Territoire de l’Orégon, des Californies et de la
Mer Vermeille, exécutée pendant les années 1840, 1841 et 1842, tome i;
Paris, 1844, p. 214.
The next noteworthy episode in the external history of the Seri
chronicled in the civil records of Sonora culminated in 1844. “The
above-named Seris, although their number never became important, did
not abandon their propensity to revolt, and, while they never rose en
masse, made many factional uprisings. Ultimately ... they displayed
such boldness, robbing ranchos, assassinating all they encountered,
assaulting on the roads arrieros and other travelers”, that a
considerable force was sent against them from Hermosillo under the
direction of Captain Victor Araiza. It was planned to support this land
force by a sea party from Guaymas, but delays and misunderstandings
caused the practical abandonment of the plan. Tiring of the delay,
Araiza “declared war on the Indians, surprising them on Punta del
Carrizal, killing 11, including several innocent women and children”,
and taking 4 captives of from 1 to 11 years in age; whereupon the army
returned to Hermosillo.[153]
[153] Velasco, Noticias Estadisticas, pp. 124, 125. This chronicle is
rendered peculiarly valuable by supplements in the form of Andrade’s
and Espence’s journals, the latter incorporated (p. 125) after
Velasco’s own writing was completed. The whole was revised, extended,
and republished in the several volumes of the first series of Bol. Soc.
Mex. Geog. y Estad., 1861-1806.
Disapproving of this undignified and inhuman crusade, the acting
governor, General Francisco Ponce de Leon, planned a still more
vigorous campaign by land and sea for the purpose of capturing the
entire tribe and transporting them to Pueblo Seri, where a few of
their kin were still harbored.[154] The command was intrusted to
Colonel Francisco Andrade, who took personal charge of the land force,
including 160 infantry from Guaymas, 60 infantry and 30 cavalry from
Hermosillo, and considerable corps from Horcasitas and Altar. The
naval auxiliary, in charge of Don Tomás Espence,[155] pilot, comprised
a schooner of 12 tons; two launches, one carrying a 4-pound cannon
and the other a 2-pound falconet; and one rowboat. On August 11,
1844, Espence sailed from Guaymas, and six days later cast anchor at
the embarcadero (apparently a convenient place on the coast of Bahia
Kino due west of Pozo Escalante—the Embarcadero Andrade of figure 1)
opposite Tiburon. Andrade marched from Hermosillo August 13, reached
Carrizal August 16, and had detachments at the coast to meet the
squadron the next day. Both the vessels and this detachment were out of
water, and next morning Espence, taking a few soldiers and an Indian
guide, made his way to Tiburon in search of springs; but “on arriving
it turned out that the Indian had deceived the party or did not wish
to reveal the water.” Nevertheless they landed, and Espence hoisted
the Mexican flag, “taking possession of the island in the name of the
Mexican Government, as the first civilized person to touch the soil.”
Afterward he divided his force, and he and the sailors wandered far,
spending the entire day in vain search for water. Toward evening he
“made the men wade into the sea up to their necks, and in this manner
mitigated somewhat their burning thirst.” Meantime the soldiers had
traveled inland some 6 or 8 miles, and found water at the head of an
arroyo (apparently a temporary tinaja west of Punta Narragansett),
but it was surrounded by Indians, who at once gave battle. Such was
their thirst that the soldiers held their ground, drinking one at a
time under the protection of their comrades. At length they killed
two chiefs (one of whom wore a jacket taken from one Hijar, robbed on
the Cienega road a few days before), and succeeded in withdrawing to
a small eminence and sheltering themselves behind a rock. Later they
effected a retreat without loss, and of course without water, so that
they arrived at the shore even thirstier than the sailors. Making their
way back to the mainland during the night, the party were relieved
the following day by mule-loads of water sent over from Carrizal. On
August 20 Colonel Andrade marched to the coast with most of his force,
leaving a detachment to guard the route; and the next day Espence
transported to the island 125 troops, 16 horses, and some mules and
cattle, without other accident than the drowning of a mule and a
steer “by the strength of the current”. Suffering much from thirst,
the troops pressed inland to the watering-place already discovered,
where they camped. The next day Colonel Andrade, with Lieutenant Jesus
Garcia, worked northward, finding another watering-place (doubtless
Tinaja Anita) 3½ leagues distant from the first; and this was made
headquarters for the force. Several parties were sent out in search of
water and Indians. A few watering-places were found, and a number of
women and children with a few men were captured, though the journals
indicate that the excursions were of limited extent only. Meantime
Espence brought over the baggage and provisions; and on August 24,
leaving a launch and a rowboat for the use of the troops, he sailed
northward through the strait, and three days later, after passing many
bars of sand, entered the bay at the extreme north (Bahia Agua Dulce),
opposite Punta Tepopa, finding sharks swarming in thousands. Here he
found fresh water 250 paces from the beach—the water which sustained
Hardy eighteen years before, and Ugarte over a century earlier still.
He found no Indians here, but a number of jacales and balsas (which he
immediately burned), as well as bones and other remains of horses.[156]
On August 28 and 29 Espence skirted the abrupt and rocky coasts of
Tiburon, west and south of the northern bay, without seeing trace of
natives; on the 30th he reached the western bay, where he found huts
and fresh tracks, and captured a woman disabled by snake-bite. Farther
down the bay he encountered a considerable party, who first prepared to
attack, and then, overawed by his bold front, sued for peace; whereupon
he accepted their submission, and sent them with a letter to Colonel
Andrade. This affair concluded, and escaping currents so contrary
that he was nearly locoed (“por las corrientes encontradas que me
volvian loco”),[157] he coasted southward; and on September 1, at the
southwestern point of the island, he found another rancheria, and made
peaceful conquest of the occupants, whom he also sent with a letter to
Andrade. Thence he coasted eastward, and, on September 3, returned to
his starting point, “having navigated the island in the period of nine
days, having in this time burned 64 huts and 97 balsas, and reduced to
peace 104 Indians with their families.” The next day he transported
the captives to the mainland, “their number, comprising men, women,
and children, reaching 384, besides about 37 remaining at large on the
island.”[158] On September 5 the remaining troops were transferred to
the mainland, with the exception of a small detachment, which remained
for an unspecified, but evidently short period, in the vain hope of
corralling the warriors, with the families to which they belonged,
supposed (on grounds not given) to remain on the island. The troops and
their captives immediately moved to Laguna de los Cercaditos (probably
Laguna la Cruz) to rejoin the cavalry guard; thence, suffering much
from thirst, they marched toward Hermosillo, arriving at that place
September 12,[159] where the troops and captives formed a triumphal
procession, met on the highroad by the merchants and the civil and
military authorities, and greeted by the ringing of bells and the
firing of rockets, and with music and refreshments.
[154] On August 14, 1844, Secretary Manuel Cabrera reported that “there
are in this pueblo not more than fifteen families of Ceris located
within its borders, maintaining themselves by the manufacture of
earthen ollas and by the garbage of their neighbors, i. e., in time of
harvest they glean the wheat and corn left scattered, and the bones,
entrails, and hoofs of the stock slaughtered for consumption by the
inhabitants.” (Incorporated in Velasco, op. cit., p. 138.)
[155] Thomas Spence, of Guaymas; apparently the “Mr. Spence” mentioned
favorably by Hardy (Travels, p. 90).
[156] The expressions of the journal indicate that Espence was not
familiar with the Seri custom of eviscerating and quartering stolen
stock, consuming the entrails at once, and transporting the more
substantial pieces across the strait on their balsas. Velasco fell into
still further error in assuming that the expressions relate to tracks
and other indications of the presence of living stock on the island.
[157] Velasco, op. cit., p. 168.
[158] Ibid., p. 169. On the same page Espence classifies the captives
as 6 oldsters (“viejos de sesenta años arriba”), 12 beldames (“viejas
de cuarenta arriba”), 1 blind, 1 idiotic boy, 5 cripples male, 1
cripple female, 180 women, 160 children, and 144 men—510 in all.
Andrade’s report enumerates the captives as 120 in each of two lots,
with 20 or more in a third, making 260 odd (ibid., p. 180); while
Velasco put the number at 200 and odd (“docientas y tantas persones”),
men, women, and children, including only 30 odd oldsters and warriors
combined. The discrepancies are characteristic, and of a piece with
those prevailing in the same latitude and longitude today: e. g.,
Velasco says there are but four waters on the island, Espence says
there are eight or ten, and Andrade implies that there are many;
Velasco says there were 160 troops from Guaymas, while Andrade mentions
only 80; Espence says that in transporting the stock (as noted above)
but one mule was drowned by the strength of the current, while Andrade
says that a mule and a steer were lost on account of the bad storm
which prevailed during the day; yet there is such agreement between
dates and facts in the independent journals of Andrade and Espence as
to establish general verity despite the provincial weakness concerning
details.
[159] According to Andrade (ibid., p. 182); Velasco says September 16
(ibid., p. 126).
The captives were imprisoned over night in the mint, the children
weeping, the women chattering angrily or humbly, and the men sulking.
Next day the Hermosilleños began distributing the children among
themselves, some families taking three and many two, while the adults
were transferred to Pueblo Seri, placed in charge of a single keeper,
and set to gathering fuel, etc. Naturally this unstable status did not
long persist; “within two months they began to disappear, fleeing to
their respective and native haunts, stealing and carrying with them the
children from whom they had been separated”;[160] and, according to
Espence, they committed “many murders on the Pitic and Guaimas roads”
as they returned to Tiburon.[161]
[160] Velasco, Noticias Estadisticas, p. 127.
[161] Ibid., p. 170.
While the Tiburon captives were escaping, the campaigning continued;
and, in November, 1844, several Seri families, comprising 63
men, women, and children, who had been scavengering Rancho del
Burro (“manteniéndose allí á merced de los desperdicios de dicho
rancho”),[162] were captured and transported to the mint at Hermosillo,
and soon afterward transferred to Pueblo Seri. During the same month
a report came from Rancho del Pocito, on the Guaymas road, that Seri
marauders (assumed to belong to the 16 families left on the island) had
killed 10 head of stock; and a detachment of 15 cavalry was sent to
inflict punishment. Early in December this party met a Seri force of
over seventy warriors, including some of those captured on Tiburon and
escaped from Pueblo Seri; after a battle of four hours the troops found
their ammunition exhausted, several of their carbines out of order,
and all but four or five of their horses winded; so that they were
driven to parley with the Indians and to procure their surrender by
pacific means—especially promises of good treatment.[163] Subsequently
a municipal commission from Hermosillo reminded the defeated Seri
of their surrender, and “three, four, or eight” of them presented
themselves (“presentándose tres, cuatro ú ocho hombres”), and were
probably added to the colony at Pueblo Seri.
[162] Ibid., p. 128.
[163] Ibid., p. 129. This naive recital is far from unique among the
chronicles of conquest over the Seri. All of the records recount
victories more or less brilliant, even when there are strong
indications between lines that the Caucasians were outnumbered,
outfought, forced from the field, and even driven into the protection
of the pueblos. The Seri side of the story has never been told.
Espence’s journal clearly indicates a complete circumnavigation of
Tiburon, the second in history (that of Ugarte in 1721 being the
first); and naturally some of his notes are of ethnologic value:
The Ceris Indians are tall, well formed, not very corpulent;
the women are remarkable for small breasts and feet and high
insteps. At night they travel ill; this is to be attributed
to the reflection of the sun on the sand, which is quite
white, and as they all live on the shore where they gain
sustenance, which is fish and plankton [marisco], they are
daily exposed to a glare which injures their vision. Their
favorite food is turtles and horses.... They are all in the
most savage condition it is possible to conceive. Their
language is guttural, and they are most filthy in their
persons, as in their food, which is mostly eaten raw, or at
the best half cooked; they endure a thousand miseries on the
island, yet the love they have for it is incredible. They are
always accompanied by innumerable dogs, ... which they have
domesticated.[164]
[164] Velasco, Noticias Estadisticas, pp. 169-171.
Velasco adds:
The Ceris subsist on fish, the seeds of grass, and coastwise
shrubs, as well as on the flesh of horses and deer, which
they kill. There is no better proof of this fact than this—on
approaching the said Ceris, one instantly perceives that their
bodies exhale an intolerable stench, like that of a corpse of
eight or more days, totally rotten, so that it is necessary to
withdraw far as possible from them.[165]
[165] Ibid., pp. 127-128.
Of all the Indian tribes known in Sonora, none are more
barbarous and uncivilized than the Ceris. They are perverse to
the limit, vicious beyond compare in drunkenness, infinitely
filthy, the bitterest enemies of the whites, like the worst of
the Indians.[166]
[166] Ibid., p. 129.
He adds also that the men wear a pelican-skin robe and a breechclout of
cotton cloth, with most of the body uncovered; “they have their faces
painted or barred with prominent black lines. They use no foot-gear
of any kind, and many have the nasal septum pierced and adorned with
pieces of greenstone or ordinary glass.” “They are robust in stature,
tall and straight, generally with bright black eyes. The women are not
uncomely, and of bronzy color [de color abronzado]. Their clothing is
made of pelican skins fastened together, retaining the feathers; with
this they are covered from the waist downward”, the remainder of the
body being bare. The women of Hermosillo provide them with cast off
garments when they approach the city, and these they wear, unwashed,
until they fall to pieces. “The said tribe, in addition to being
the vilest and most brutal known in the country, are preeminently
treacherous and traitorous, so that forty of their outbreaks may be
counted during the efforts to reduce them to civilized life.” At
the time of the Cimarrones outbreak, the Seri of Tiburon and Tepoka
numbered 2,000; “to day [about 1846 or 1847], counting the 259, which
are all that inhabit Tiburon and the most that can be presented,
including the Tepoka Seri [los Ceris Tepocas], who have always been
much fewer, their whole number will not amount to 500 persons of all
sexes and ages, and the warriors can not exceed 60 or 80 at the most.”
The Seri are not polygamous, though apparently promiscuous (“se nota en
sus matrimonios mucha tolerancia mútuamente”). They “adore the moon,
which they venerate and respect as a deity; when they see the new moon,
they kneel and make obeisance; they kiss the earth and make a thousand
genuflections, beating their breasts.”[167]
[167] Ibid., pp. 131-133.
The remarkably vigorous expedition of Andrade and Espence occurred
within the memory of men still active, and naturally it lives in
tradition at Hermosillo and Bacuache, and among the ranchos lying
toward the border of Seriland; indeed, one of the two Mexicans
accompanying the 1895 expedition, Don Ygnacio Lozania, retained shadowy
impressions of participating in an invasion of the island, which
could have been none other than that planned by Governor De Leon and
executed by Colonel Andrade. Yet it is not uncharacteristic of Sonoran
history that the wave of anti-Seri activity culminating in 1844 hardly
outlasted its own breaking; certainly Escudero, writing less than five
years later, declared of “la nacion _Seri_”: “During thirty-three years
they have committed not a single act of hostility and live in peace
and perfect harmony with the Sonorenses.” He added that they occupied
the islands of Tiburon and Tepoca (sic) and the coasts of the gulf
contiguous to Sonora and California, and from the most remote antiquity
had been known by the names of “_tiburones_” or “_seris_”. Describing
Pueblo Seri, he observed: “It now contains hardly a dozen aged Seris of
both sexes”; and he forecast the early extinction of the tribe, since
the people were incapable of abandoning their independent and solitary
existence.[168]
[168] Noticias Estadisticas, pp. 141-142.
* * * * *
Here ends, practically, the history of Pueblo Seri as a Seri
settlement, for, although one of the tribe survived for half a century
and a few others may have survived for a decade, the “aged Seris of
both sexes” melted away so rapidly as to leave no later record, and
were apparently never replaced by others. Briefly, the history of the
pueblo began with the establishment of a presidio or military post
in 1741 in the natural gateway and watering-place leading into the
settled valleys of the Opodepe and upper Sonora, for the sole purpose
of protecting the settlements against the wandering Seri, who used
this typical Sonora watergap as a way-station on forays but never
as a place of residence. The history grew definite when the Jesuits
obtained the allotment of lands for the Seri and established for them
a mission, which was at the same time a place of catechizing for
Seri neophytes, a place of detention for Seri captives, a place of
refuge for Seri weaklings, and a place of resort for Seri sneaks and
spies. The history proceeded with many vicissitudes, as the presidio
was alternately abandoned under Seri attacks and reoccupied when the
attacks were repulsed, and as the neophytes alternately escaped and
suffered recapture; the formal history waned in relative importance
as the population and interests of Pitic and afterward of Hermosillo
waxed, and as the lands originally allotted to the Seri were gradually
taken and held by Mexican settlers, and ended when the Seri tenure was
formally extinguished in 1844, as described by Cabrera and Velasco;
and the general history dropped into unimportance with the escape
of Andrade’s captives, after temporary quartering on the legally
established landholders and householders of the Mexicanized pueblo.
For a century and a half the name of the pueblo has continually raised
and renewed the assumption that it marks a site of aboriginal Seri
habitation or has played some other leading rôle in Seri history, and
this assumption has shaped opinion past and present; yet its error is
clearly shown by scrutiny of the historical records, as well as by
collateral ethnologic and archeologic evidence.
Here may be said to end, too, the local chronicles of the Seri; for
although the state archives are crowded with charges, petitions,
commissions, reports, and other papers pertaining to the irrepressible
Seri; although these materials have overflowed to Ciudad, Mexico, and
even to Washington, in official documents both numerous and voluminous;
although Dávila in 1894 increased Velasco’s forty Seri wars to fifty;
and although the weightiest events in the internal history of the Seri
have occurred since 1844, little attempt has latterly been made to
reduce the abundant data to print.
The Mexican geographic knowledge of the time was surprisingly vague,
as is shown by the current maps, for example, the Tanner maps which
appeared in several editions: the 1846 edition recalls and evidently
reflects the Humboldt map of the beginning of the century; “R.
Ascencion” is represented as embouching through an estuary about 30°
20', with the “Seris Indians” north of its lower half-length and west
of “Pitic” and “Ft. del Alter”; Ures is located 3 or 4 miles southeast
of this fort, and “Racuach” (the Bacuachito of the present) is 20 miles
farther southeastward. Neither Rio Sonora nor any of its important
branches are indicated, while “Pitic” is placed several times too far
from the coast and from Guaymas, in a featureless expanse of paper;
“Rio Hiaqui” is shown as a branchless and conventional stream of a
single crescentic curvature, embouching in about the right latitude.
The coast of the gulf is distorted, and “Tiburon” is shown as an island
much too large and nearly a degree too far north, separated from the
mainland by a greatly exaggerated strait, with an elongated mesa (“Mt.
del Picu”) skirting the mainland coast—in short, the cartography is
largely traditional if not fanciful.[169]
[169] A Map of the United States of Mexico, as organized and defined
by the several Acts of the Congress of that Republic, constructed from
a great variety of Printed and Manuscript Documents, by H. S. Tanner.
Third edition, 1846. The map in De Mofras (op. cit., atlas) is little
better.
* * * * *
The career of the Seri during the half century 1844-1894 is traceable
by aid of (1) unpublished documents, (2) published results of
scientific inquiries and surveys, and (3) personal reminiscences of men
living on the Seri frontier; but in a summary touching only salient
points the first-named source may be passed over.
One of the first foreign visitors to follow Baron Humboldt in
systematic inquiries concerning the aborigines of northwestern Mexico
was Henri Ternaux-Compans; his information, too, was secondhand and
remote, yet he correctly recognized Isla Tiburon as “inhabited by the
Seris, who have some huts also on the mainland”.[170]
[170] Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tome iii, 1842, p. 320 (cited by
Buschmann, Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache im nördlichen Mexico und
höheren amerikanischen Norden, in Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie
der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, aus dem Jahre 1854, zweiter Supplement,
Band; Berlin, 1859, p. 219).
Later came Eduard Mühlenpfordt, an attaché of a German commercial
company and later a Mexican state official, who traveled extensively
and wrote partly at first hand, though there is little indication of
personal acquaintance with Seriland or the Seri: he described “Bahia
de San Juan Bautista”, with “the small island San Augustin” lying
before it (in such manner as to identify this islet with Isla Tassne),
and located “the large island Tiburon farther northward, opposite a
mountainous coast”.[171] He added:
[171] Versuch einer getreuen Schilderung der Republik Mejico besonders
in Beziehung auf Geographie, Ethnographie, und Statistik: Hannover,
1844, Band I, p. 441; Band II, p. 415.
The waterless but cattle-stocked plains between the place
Pitic and the coast, and thence up to the river Ascension,
are inhabited by a meager remnant of the Seri tribe, while on
Tiburon island, opposite this coast, the Tiburones dwell. The
Seris were formerly very numerous, by far the fiercest of all
the Indian tribes of northern Mexico, and very warlike. Through
ceaseless war with the Tiburones and the troops from the
Spanish presidios they are now nearly extinct.[172]
[172] Ibid., Band II, pp. 419-420.
Elsewhere the Tiburones were characterized as enemies of the Seri,[173]
while the “Heris” tribe was enumerated as a branch of the “Pimas Bajas”
people. Herr Mühlenpfordt’s characterization of the Seri and the
Tiburon islanders as enemies would appear to be groundless, yet not
wholly incomprehensible; in the first place, the earlier literature
indicates that the term Seri (Seris, Ceris, Heris, etc.) was an alien
designation of lax application,[174] doubtless extended occasionally
or habitually to marauding nomads, regardless of affinity; again there
is conclusive evidence that in many instances Seri convert-captives
attached to the missions and pueblos were often regarded as tribal
apostates and outlaws whose lives were forfeit; and, moreover, the
region in which Herr Mühlenpfordt gained his information was and
still is one of abounding tale, whose frequent exaggeration and not
infrequent invention conceal and distort the simple facts.
[173] Ibid., Band I, p. 210.
[174] Peñafiel defines “Seris” as the “name of a tribe of Sonora,
originating probably in the Opata language” (Nomenclatura Geográfica
de Mexico—Etimologías de los Nombres de Lugar ... por el Dr. Antonio
Peñafiel, primera parte, 1897, p. 225); while Pimentel defines two
suggestively similar Opata words, “_Serarai_, paso menudo y bueno”,
and “_Sërerài_, velocidad de la persona que corre” (Vocabulario Manual
de la Lengua Opata, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo X, 1863, p.
306), i. e., a good and direct pace, and the speed of a person running,
respectively (cf. postea. p. 125).
In 1850, Don Diego Lavandera transmitted to the Mexican Society of
Geography and Statistics, through the hands of Señor José F. Ramirez,
certain documents, accompanied by a note to the effect that “The tribe
of the Seris speak Arabic, and it is understood by the Moors at the
first interview”—this note merely expressing a prevailing current
opinion. Undertaking to test the opinion, Señor Ramirez sent to
Lavandera, in Sonora, a number of words in three Arabic dialects, at
the same time asking for the Seri equivalents; and the inquiry yielded
a Seri vocabulary (probably the first ever printed) of eleven words.
Of these none show the slightest affinity with the Arabic dialects;
at least four (horse, chamber, population, wine) express concepts
alien to the Seri; and only three or four can be identified with Seri
terms recorded in later vocabularies. No reference is made to Señor
Lavandera’s aboriginal informant; but there is a strong presumption
that it was the official interpreter at Hermosillo and Pueblo Seri—a
presumption warranted by coincident historical records and statements
of contemporaries still living, to the effect (1) that an official
interpreter was there then and for a long time later, (2) that neither
then nor later were there other Seri representatives able to furnish
vocabularies at Hermosillo, Pueblo Seri, or other towns, and (3) that
at that time (as at most others) the relations between the Seri and the
whites were such as to prevent amicable communication through casual
meeting or otherwise.
Proceeding with his discussion, Señor Ramirez sought to correct the
allegation of Abbé Hervas that “in the mission of Belen live three
nations, called Hiaqui, Seri, and Guaima, who speak _three different
languages_.” After quoting a Jesuit manuscript of July, 1730, reporting
that “the language of the Seris is the same as that of the Guaimas”,
he added a significant statement contained in a manuscript report
from the Bishop of Sonora, directed to Don José de Galvez, under date
of September 20, 1784, concerning the mission of Belen: “Two nations
of Indians, Pimas Bajos and Guaimas, live united, the latter having
abandoned their pueblo under the continuous assaults of the Seris.
The Pimas use their own language.... The Guaimas use their ancient
language.” Summarizing the evidence (of course secondhand and derived
from the observations and reports of the missionaries), Señor Ramirez
held as proved, first, “the existence of two diverse languages at the
mission of Belen—that of the Guaimas and that of the Pimas Bajos”; and
second, that “the Guaimas and the Seri are the same”.[175] It would
appear that Señor Ramirez hardly appreciated the significance of the
statement of sixty-four years before that the Guayma were still using
their “ancient” language, with the implication that they were acquiring
familiarity with the Piman tongue—a familiarity that may well have
misled later inquirers.
[175] Lenguas Primitivas, in Boletin del Institute Nacional de
Geografía, y Estadística de la República Mexicana, third edition, tomo
II; Mexico, 1861, pp. 148-149.
* * * * *
It is just to say that scientific knowledge of the Seri began with
the visit to Hermosillo of United States Boundary Commissioner John
Russell Bartlett, on December 31, 1851. True, Commissioner Bartlett
approached no nearer Seriland than Hermosillo and Guaymas, and saw but
a single Seri; yet he obtained an excellent vocabulary and considerable
collateral information from this Indian. According to this information—
The Ceris tribe of Indians, with the exception of those which
are christianized and reside in the village near Hermosillo,
occupy the island of Tiburon in the Gulf of California, north
of Guaymas. Although believed not to number over 100 warriors,
they have long been the dread of the Mexicans between Guaymas
and Hermosillo, as well as the country to the north, on account
of their continual depredations and murders. Their practice
is to lie in wait near the traveled roads, and there surprise
small and unprotected parties. Their place of abode being
on an island or the shores adjacent, and their subsistence
being chiefly gained by fishing, they have no desire to steal
animals, which would be of no use to them; nor do they take
any prisoners. To murder and plunder small parties of Mexicans
seems to be their only aim, and every arrow or lance thrown
by the Ceris that pierces the skin causes death, as all are
poisoned. Many expeditions, fitted out at a great expense, have
been sent against them; but, though commanded by competent
officers, all have failed. The number being so small, they
manage when pursued to conceal themselves where they can not
be found. The island of Tiburon, as well as the mainland
adjacent, is exceedingly barren and destitute of water; hence
parties have suffered greatly in the campaigns against them,
without accomplishing anything. I was told that the Government
had already expended more than $1,000 for every male of the
tribe. The last serious attack of these people was made upon a
gentleman traveling to Guaymas in his carriage with his family
and attendants, embracing 16 persons. They were surprised in an
unfrequented place and every soul put to death.[176]
[176] Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New
Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, Connected with the United
States and Mexican Boundary Commission, during the years 1850, ’51,
’52, and ’53; New York, 1854, vol. I, p. 403 et seq.
Commissioner Bartlett quoted Hardy’s description of the arrow poison,
and, speaking of the Seri tongue, added:
I found it an extremely harsh language, very difficult to
express with our letters, and totally different from any
aboriginal tongue I had heard spoken; ... but it was impossible
for me, without a close philological comparison with other
Indian languages, to arrive at any correct conclusion as to
whether this people are allied or not to other aboriginal
tribes.
He also referred to a prevalent notion that “the Ceris were of Asiatic
origin, in proof of which some statements were made too improbable to
repeat. This idea seems to have originated from the resemblance between
their name and that given by the ancients to the Chinese.”
In order to obtain a Seri vocabulary, Commissioner Bartlett had a
messenger dispatched “to a pueblo or village of these Indians near
Hermosillo. The person sent for made his appearance in a few hours”;
he was “a good-looking man, about 30 years of age. His complexion was
fair, and resembled that of an Asiatic rather than an American Indian.
His cheek bones were high, and his head round and well formed, though
the anterior portion was somewhat angular and prominent. His hair was
short, straight, and black. He was a full-blooded Ceris, and came
originally from the island of Tiburon. In about three hours I completed
the vocabulary quite satisfactorily to myself.”[177] The vocabulary was
not printed with the narrative; nor were references made to the Seri
population, either in the pueblo or in Seriland.
[177] Ibid., pp. 463-464.
While the vocabulary was not published by Commissioner Bartlett, it
was preserved and passed into the hands of George Gibbs, who made a
systematic transcript;[178] this came into possession of Dr Albert S.
Gatschet, and a copy is preserved in the archives of the Bureau of
American Ethnology. The name of the native informant is not recorded,
but fortunately he was found still living, and was fully identified,
during the expeditions of 1894 and 1895—especially toward the end of
the latter, when, on January 4, 1896, he was employed as an informant.
He was then a fine-looking man of noble stature and figure, and of
notably dignified air and manner, dressed in conventional attire;
his hair was luxuriant, iron-gray in color, and trimmed in Mexican
fashion. His looks indicated an age of about 70, but in his own opinion
(which was corroborated by that of Señor Pascual Encinas and other
old acquaintances) he was at least 75. His movements were vigorous,
his eyes clear and bright, his vision good, and, except for hardly
perceptible imperfection of hearing, he was in full possession of
normal faculties. He was in the employ of the state as a trustworthy
attaché of the governor’s palacio, where his services were nominal;
his real function was that of a Seri interpreter in case of need; and
on the day specified he was temporarily assigned to the service of the
expedition by His Excellency Governor Corral. By Mexican acquaintances
he was commonly called Fernando, though he called himself Kolusio,
sometimes using the former designation as a forename; he was also
known as “El General” (= Chief), or “El General de los Seris”. He
had a vague memory of Tiburon island, which he left in childhood
(at about 6 years of age, according to his estimate) and had never
revisited, though he had been on the Seri border so late as 1870.
Except when temporarily at Rancho San Francisco de Costa Rica, he had
lived in Pueblo Seri, usually reporting in Hermosillo daily for such
duty as might be assigned to him at the palacio. He was aware that he
was regarded as a tribal outlaw, and admitted that no consideration
could induce him to approach Seriland, since he would be slain by
his tribesmen more eagerly than any alien; indeed, he hardly dared
venture so far westward as Molino del Encinas, in the outskirts of
Hermosillo, and only did so in daylight or in company of others. His
few kinsfolk in Pueblo Seri had died or deserted so long before that he
had forgotten names and dates; and, as he remarked with half-realized
pathos, he had been alone amid aliens for very many years (“muy muchos
años”). The linguistic inquiries put to him reminded him of previous
interrogations of the sort, and he voluntarily described the visit of
a distinguished American who, a long time ago (more than 40 years, he
thought), came down from Ures, with many books and papers, and spent
New Year’s day in interrogating him about his language and his people.
He was much impressed with the ability displayed by the “Gringo muy
grande” in writing the terms and afterward repronouncing them properly;
and he described the visitor as appearing very pale and sick (“muy
palido y malo”), and under the necessity of frequently resting and
taking medicine, and also as having wavy hair, worn so long as to hang
down over the neck and shoulders. He could not recall that he had
ever heard the American’s name; but his description pointed clearly
to Commissioner Bartlett, who had risen from a sick-bed at Ures and
was on his way to Guaymas to get the benefit of a sea voyage, and who
wore his hair long during a part or all of his expedition (as was
subsequently ascertained by extended inquiry). Kolusio also remembered
“giving his language” (a bold if not sacrilegious act, according to
his view) to two or three other persons, (one “not a Mexicano” though
speaking Spanish, none “Americano”[179]); but the first-mentioned
instance was the one most deeply impressed on his mind. At this time
(1896) he retained a working knowledge of the Seri tongue, and was able
to serve satisfactorily as a Spanish-Seri interpreter; yet careful
test showed that he had forgotten numerous native terms, and sometimes
inadvertently substituted other Indian (Yaqui, Papago, and probably
Opata) and Spanish words; while he knew so little of the tribal customs
and beliefs that inquiries pertaining to them were too nearly fruitless
to be long pursued. Undoubtedly his knowledge of the Seri tongue was
fresher and fuller in 1852; but since he was practically isolated
from his tribe in early childhood, he probably never possessed much
information concerning the esoteric characters of his people.
[178] This transcript is entered in a blank schedule Vocabulary of
180 Words, printed by the Smithsonian Institution for Gibbs, with
a supplementary sheet; it is dated January 1, 1852; and while the
published “Narrative” implies that it was recorded December 31, 1851,
the manuscript date is confirmed by the Seri interpreter, Kolusio.
[179] At the time of inquiry the importance of the other vocabularies
was not suspected, and the interrogation was not pushed far enough to
permit identification of the persons to whom they were given.
The next noteworthy scientific student of the Seri was Johann Carl
Eduard Buschmann, who visited various Mexican tribes, but whose
knowledge of the Seri was wholly secondhand. Quoting Villa-Señor and
Arrecivita and other early writers, noting unfortunate passages from
Bartlett, and magnifying Mühlenpfordt’s misapprehensions into positive
error, he reduced knowledge of this and neighboring tribes to chaos.
The “Guaymas” were separated from the “Seris (oder Seres)”, and these
(at least by implication) from the “Tiburones”, while the “Piatos” were
combined with the Seri, the traditional alliance with the Apache was
greatly overdrawn, and the “Heri oder Heris” and the “Tepocas” were
treated as distinct.[180] No new facts were adduced, no use was made
of local sources of information, and no notice was taken of other than
literary data.
[180] Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache im nördlichen Mexico und
höheren amerikanischen Norden. Zugleich eine Musterung der Völker
und Sprachen des nördlichen Mexicos und der Westseite Nordamerikas
von Guadalaxara an bis zum Eismeer. Von Joh. Carl Ed. Buschmann (in
Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, aus
dem Jahre 1854, zweiter Supplement-Band); Berlin, 1859, pp. 218-221 and
elsewhere.
In 1857 the gigantic surveying enterprise of Jecker & Co. was
undertaken, under a concession from the Government of Mexico, and the
scientific surveys were intrusted to a commission headed by El Capitan
Carlos Stone (General Charles Pomeroy Stone, U. S. A.). The commission
headquartered at Guaymas, purchased vessels for the survey of the
coast, and began operations also in the interior; Bahia Pinacati and
George island (named by Hardy in 1826) were surveyed, as well as the
entire Sonoran coast south of Guaymas, and “one hundred miles of coast
near Tiburon”, besides many hundred square miles of valuable lands.
At this stage friction developed between the progressive commission
and the conservative Sonorenses, which ended in the expulsion of the
scientific commission by the State government.[181] By reason of
the premature termination of the work, few of the observations and
other results were ever published. General Stone himself traveled
extensively in Sonora, and delved deeply in the historical records of
northern Mexico; and, while there is no indication that he ever came
in personal contact with the Seri, he collected and sifted current
local information relating to the tribe with notable acumen. In certain
“Notes” prepared in Washington in December, 1860, he wrote:
[181] Arizona and Sonora, etc., by Sylvester Mowry; New York, 1864. pp.
98-102.
The _Ceris_ are a peculiar tribe of Indians occupying the
island of Tiburon and the neighboring coast. They are yet in a
perfectly savage state, and live solely by fishing and hunting.
Having been at war with the whites from the time of the first
missions, they have become reduced in numbers to about 300,
counting some 80 warriors. They are of large stature, well
made, and athletic. In war and in the chase they make use of
poisoned arrows, the wounds from which are almost always fatal.
In preparing the poison, it is said they procure the liver of a
deer or cow, and by irritating rattlesnakes and scorpions with
it, cause it to be struck by a great many of these reptiles.
They then hang up the mass to putrefy in a bag, and in the
drippings of this bag they soak their arrowheads. I can not
vouch for the truth of this statement, but it is current in
Sonora. I was informed by a gentleman in Hermosillo that one
of his servants, who was slightly shot by a Ceri’s arrow,
died quickly from the effect of the wound (which mortified
almost immediately) in spite of the best medical treatment.
Their language is guttural, and very different from any other
Indian idiom in Sonora. It is said that on one occasion some
of these Indians passed by a shop in Guaymas, where some Welsh
sailors were talking, and on hearing the Welsh language spoken,
stopped, listened, and appeared much interested, declaring that
those white men were their brothers, for they had a tongue like
their own. They are very filthy in their habits, and are said
to be worshipers of the moon.[182]
[182] Notes on the State of Sonora, by Charles P. Stone, 1800;
Washington, 1861, p. 19. Reprinted in Historical Magazine, vol. V,
1861, pp. 161-169.
Another Mexican traveler of note who collected local and contemporary
information concerning the Seri, though enjoying no more than slight
inimical contact with them, was Herr Clemens A. Pajeken, of Bremen (for
some time a resident of California). He classed as wild Indians (“Wilde
Indianer, Indios broncos”) the Seri and Apache tribes. Of the former he
wrote:
Ceris. This is a small tribe, their number not exceeding 400
souls, or rather head [dessen Seelenzahl oder besser Kopfzahl];
yet the government of the State could not restrain this little
band of robbers and marauders that for more than twenty years
have perpetrated their atrocities on travelers between the
port of Guaymas and the city of Hermosillo, the metropolis
of the State.... The Ceris appear not to grasp the idea that
they are human. Like the prey-beasts of the wilderness, they
go out to slay men and animals, sparing only their own kind.
In many respects they are viler than the beasts, since they
slay without need merely to satisfy a lust for slaughter.
They are not only the stupidest and laziest of the Indians of
Sonora, but also the most treacherous and deceitful. During the
Spanish rule, from the time the first visit was made to lead
them toward social life, they have rebelled more than forty
times. Only a couple of families [ein paar Familien] still
reside in the village [Pueblo Seri], where they make ollas and
subsist on the offal of the shambles. The proper home of these
barbarians is the island of Tiburon and the adjacent coasts,
whither they return after their outbreaks, although it is an
incredibly desert region. Thence they repair to the highways to
kill travelers and arrieros, or to the ranges to steal cattle.
They confine themselves to the bow and arrow, and the latter
are poisoned, so that every wound made by them is deadly, or at
best highly dangerous. On my second journey into the interior
of the country my horse received an arrow in the hip; the
arrow, which entered 4 inches, could not be withdrawn until the
following day; and for seven months the wound suppurated....
Their chief food consists of oysters, mussels, snakes, with
fish and other sea food, which they consume entirely raw and
which surrounds them with an intolerable stench; though this
may be partly due to their exceeding uncleanliness, since the
process of washing is wholly unknown to them. Their clothing
consists of a kilt of pelican skin. They tattoo their faces,
and some pierce their noses to insert a certain green stone
[obsidian]. They are of dark copper color, large and strongly
built. Although in their faces no human sentiments can be
discerned, yet they can not be called ugly. Their limbs are so
beautifully proportioned that the Spanish ladies in Hermosillo
view with envy the slender shapes and the comely hands and
feet of the young Ceris maidens. They wear no headdresses, and
as their coarse, shaggy hair is neither combed nor cleaned,
it sticks out in tangled tufts in all directions like spines
on a hedgehog; this alone gives them a forbidding appearance.
Their speech is quite like their character; it is guttural,
discordant, and meager, resembling more the howling of wild
animals than human speech, wherefore it is difficult for a
human to learn. They have no religion—at least, I do not deem
the gambols and amusing capers in which they indulge at the
new moon to be religious customs. The tribe is constantly
diminishing in numbers, and it is hoped they may soon disappear
from the earth by natural decrease—unless the State government
sooner undertakes a war of extermination.[183]
[183] Reise-Erinnerungen und Abenteuer aus der neuen Welt in
ethnographischen Bildern, von C. A. Pajeken; Bremen, 1861, pp. 97-99.
Herr Pajeken’s record bears inherent evidence (at least to one familiar
with the region) of reflecting the current local knowledge and opinion
concerning the Seri with unsurpassed—indeed unequaled—fidelity; and
it is also of value in that it indicates the approximate number of
the tribe then surviving in Pueblo Seri, and in that it gives the
contemporary estimate of the tribal population.
Among the more careful students of the Seri at second hand should be
mentioned Buckingham Smith, an enthusiastic collector, translator, and
publisher of rare Americana. In the introduction to an anonymous and
dateless grammar of the Heve language he wrote in 1861:
The lower Pima are in the west of the province [of Sonora],
having many towns extending to the frontier of the indomitable
Seri, who live some 30 leagues to the north of the mouth of
the Hiaqui, and have their farthest limit inland some dozen
leagues from the sea, finding shelter among the ridges and in
the neighboring island of Tiburon.
He added in a note:
The Guaima speak nearly the same language as the Seri,
are few in number, and live among the Hiaqui in Belen and
elsewhere, having retreated before the sanguinary fury of their
conquerors.[184]
[184] A Grammatical Sketch of the Heve Language, translated from an
unpublished Spanish manuscript; in Library of American Linguistics,
vol. III, New York, 1861, p. 7.
While the scientific knowledge of the Seri began with Bartlett’s visit,
it assumed definite shape only through the classic researches of Don
Francisco Pimentel (Count Herras) in the early sixties. His analysis
and classification of the Seri tongue rest on a short vocabulary
collected by Señor D. A. Tenochio and transmitted to the Mexican
Society of Geography and Statistics. Noting the condition of the tribe
at the time, Señor Pimentel wrote:
The Seris are now reduced to a few families only, inhabiting
Sonora, especially the island of Tiburon, for which reason
they are also known sometimes by the name Tiburones. The
Indians called Salineros, who live on the borders of Pimeria
Alta, and the Tepocas, who live toward the south, belong to
the Seri nation. The Seris have always been notable for their
ferocity and barbarism, preferring death in war against the
whites to the adoption of civilization. They are dreaded and
notorious for their arrows, poisoned with a most virulent venom
[emponzoñadas con activísimo veneno]. They are tall and well
formed, and their women are good-looking. By reason of their
distrust of the whites, it has not been possible to ascertain
their traditions, farther than that their ancestors came from
distant lands of unknown direction. Of their religion it is
known that they adore daily the rising sun.[185]
[185] Cuadro Descriptivo y Comparativo de las Lenguas Indigenas de
México, ó Tratado de Filología Mexicana, por Francisco Pimentel,
segunda edicion unica completa, tomo II; Mexico, 1875, p. 229. The
first edition of the work was published in two volumes, dated,
respectively, 1862 and 1865.
After brief discussion of the grammar, and extended comparison of
some sixty out of the seventy vocables selected by Señor Tenochio, he
concluded:
Although in the list of Seri words consulted the foregoing
reveal analogies with those of the Mexican group, there are,
without doubt, other terms belonging exclusively to the Seri
or some other branch extraneous to the Mexican group; for this
reason it would appear that the idiom represents a distinct
family.[186]
[186] Ibid., p. 241.
The list of these distinct words was appended. Referring to the
dialects, Señor Pimentel expressed the opinion, based on literary
references, that the “Guayma” or “Gayama”, “Upanguaima”, and
“Cocomaques” may be considered as belonging to the Seri family.[187]
[187] Ibid., p. 234.
While Señor Pimentel gave credit to his informant, Señor Tenochio,
he did not indicate the original source of the vocabulary; but the
source may be defined approximately by a process of elimination:
there is hardly a possibility that the terms were obtained from any
tribesmen in Seriland, since they were all inimical to the whites,
and since very few of them have ever known enough of the Spanish
tongue to permit communication with the Mexicans; accordingly, it is
practically certain that the Seri interpreter must have been either (1)
a resident of Pueblo Seri or (2) an attaché of rancho San Francisco
de Costa Rica (of which more anon); and in either case it would seem
certain that the native informant could have been none other than the
standard Seri-Spanish interpreter of the last half century—Kolusio.
Indeed, Kolusio was, at the time, the only Seri habitué of Pueblo Seri
possessing sufficient knowledge of the Spanish and enough intelligence
and independence to “give his language”, and was one of the two
frequenters of the rancho similarly equipped.
Pimentel’s contemporary, Licenciate Manuel Orozco y Berra, contributed
in important measure to systematic knowledge of the Seri, which he
defined (apparently on the basis of the Tenochio vocabulary systemized
and published by Pimentel) as a distinct linguistic family with two
dialectic branches,[188] viz.:
[188] Geografia de las Lenguas y Carta Etnográfica de México,
Precedidas de un Ensayo de Clasificacion de las Mismas Lenguas y de
Apuntes para las Inmigraciones de las Tribus, por el Lic. Manuel Orozco
y Berra; Mexico, 1864, p. 59.
_IX FAMILIA.—SÉRI._
XXXIII. _Séri_, por los séris, céris, tiburones, tepocas,
salineros, en Sonora.
61. I. _Upanguaima_, por los upanguaimas, en Sonora.
62. II. _Guaima_, por los guaimas, guaymas, gayamas,
cocomaques, en Sonora.
Orozco’s map assigns to the Seri family an immense area (recalling
Villa-Señor’s “despoblado”) extending from just above the mouth
of the Yaqui, northward to the thirtieth parallel on the coast,
stretching inland nearly to Cucurpe, Opodepe, and Ures, and including
Tiburon; the “Salineros” lying adjacent to the coast in the north,
the “Tepocas” medially, and the “Guaymas” in the south, within this
area. In elucidating the map he wrote, under the title “El séri.—El
upanguaima.—El guaima”:
The Séris, a tribe inhabiting Sonora, forms, with its
subtribes, a separate family. By their language, by their
customs, and by their physiognomy, they are completely set
apart from affiliation with the surrounding nations; and
apparently they have lived in the district which they now
occupy from times anterior to the establishment of the Pima
race and its affines; their use of poisoned arrows recalls
the Caribs of the islands, as well as of the continent, and
it seems not unlikely, although very curious, that they are
related to them. The Séris, known also as Tiburones, a name
derived from the island of Tiburon in the Mar de Cortés, which
serves them as a shelter, considered as parts of their tribe
the Tepocas and the Salineros.
The “Upanguaima” (a very small tribe occupying the Seri border) and the
“Guaimas”, as well as the “Cocomagues” were combined chiefly on the
authority of Jesuit writers.[189] In describing the State of Sonora he
further wrote:
[189] Ibid., p. 42.
The Séris, bounded by the sea on the west, the Pimas Altos on
the north, the Opatas and the Pimas Bajos on the east, and the
pueblos of Rio Yaqui on the south, form the smallest nation
of Sonora, but at the same time the most cruel and deceitful
and the least capable of reduction to political organization.
Hardly uniting with the smaller pueblos as at Populo and
Belen, the rest of the nation engaged so constantly in cruel
warfare that it was necessary to persecute and exterminate
them.... Small as was the tribe, three divisions are known: the
Salineros, extending to the confines of Pimeria Alta; south
of them the Tepocas, nearest to the island of Tiburon; the
Guaymas and Upanguaymas occupying the territory adjacent to
the harbor of the same name, afterward added to the pueblo at
Belen and blended with the Indians of Rio Yaqui. Ferocious and
savage, they preferred to die in war against the whites rather
than adopt their usages and customs; lazy and indolent, they
so surrendered themselves to the passion of intoxication that
mothers conveyed aguardiente from their mouths to the smallest
babes. They are tall and well formed, the women not lacking
in beauty. The poison with which they envenom their arrows is
proverbial for deadly effect; they compound the venomous juice
from a multitude of ingredients and fortify the compound by
superstitious practices.[190]
[190] Ibid., pp. 353-354.
The classifications by Pimentel and Orozco were widely accepted, and
were given still wider currency by republication in standard works,
such as the classic dictionary of the Nahuatl tongue by Rémi Siméon, in
which is defined “La famille _Seri_, dans la Sonora, avec 3 idiomes:
le _Seri_, le _Guaima_ et l’_Upanguaima_.”[191] In his ethnographic
tableau of the nations and languages of Mexico, M. V. A. Malte-Brun
followed Orozco almost literally, save that he emphasized the suggested
Caribbean affiliation of the Seri, saying:
[191] Dictionnaire de la Langue Nahuatl ou Mexicaine, rédigé d’après
les Documents imprimés et Manuscrits les plus authentiques et précédé
d’une Introduction; Paris, 1885, p. xviii.
They make use of poisoned arrows, and when one studies their
manners, their habits, their modes of life, one is tempted
to find in them a strong affinity [grande affinité] with the
Caribs of the continent and the islands.[192]
[192] Tableau de la Distribution ethnographiques des Nations et
des Langues au Mexique; Congrès International des Américanistes,
Compte-rendu de la Seconde Session, tome II, 1878, p. 37.
During the seventies Hubert Howe Bancroft was engaged in collecting
material for his monumental series of works, and in arranging the
ethnologic data for publication. Of the Seri he wrote:
East of the Opata and Pima bajo, on the shores of the Gulf of
California, and thence for some distance inland, and also on
the island of Tiburon, the Ceri language with its dialects, the
Guaymi and Tepoca, is spoken. Few of the words are known, and
the excuse given by travelers for not taking vocabularies is,
that it was too difficult to catch the sound. It is represented
as extremely harsh and guttural in its pronunciation and well
suited to the people who speak it, who are described as wild
and fierce. It is, so far as known, not related to any of the
Mexican linguistic families.[193]
[193] The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. III (The Native Races,
vol. III, 1882, p. 704). The “east” in this quotation is obviously a
misprint for west.
The only vocabulary of this language which Bancroft was able to find
was added (without reference to the aboriginal source); it comprised
the eleven words collected by Lavandera and discussed by Ramirez in
1850.[194]
[194] Ibid., p. 705.
The Seri, with their affines, the Tepoka, Salinero, Guayma, and
Upanguayma, were included by Bancroft in his arbitrarily defined
“Northern Mexican family”.[195] The accompanying map (which is highly
inaccurate) located the “Salineros” on the gulf coast, considerably
north of the common embouchure of “R. de Horcasitas” and “Rio de
Sonora”; while the “Seris” were more conspicuously represented about
the broad estuary into which the rivers embouch, and the “Tepocas”
were located still farther southward on both Tiburon and the mainland,
the island being placed too far southward and the river much too far
northward.[196] Numerous data relating to the Seri were incorporated in
his text; all were second-hand, though many were taken from unique or
rare manuscripts. The coastwise natives of Sonora were said to “live
on pulverized rush and straw, with fish caught at sea or in artificial
enclosures”; mention was made of the allegation that “the Salineros
sometimes eat their own excrement”; anthropophagy was noted, but as
pertaining rather to the interior than to the coastwise tribes;[197]
and prominence was given to the Seri arrow poison, of which an early
author wrote:
[195] Op. cit., vol. I, pp. 604-605.
[196] Ibid., p. 471.
[197] The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. III (The Native Races,
vol. III, 1882, p. 576.)
The poison with which they envenom the points of their arrows
is the most active that has ever been known here.... It has not
been possible to ascertain with certainty the deadly materials
of which this pestilential compound is brewed. Many things
are alleged, e. g., that it is made from the heads of vipers,
irritated and decapitated at the moment of striking their teeth
into a piece of lung or of half putrefied human flesh.
Reference was made also to the “magot” (probably the yerba mala of
the modern Mexicans) as a source of arrow poison.[198] The girls’
puberty feast was said to be kept up for several days among the Seri
and Tepoka, and the former were said to “superstitiously celebrate
the new moon, and bow reverentially to the rising and setting sun”,
and also to “employ charms in their medical practice”.[199] Finally,
the constituent tribes were discriminated in a manner recalling the
persistent assumption that the parasite-converts at the missions fairly
represented the Seri:
[198] Ibid., p. 579.
[199] Ibid., pp. 584, 587, 589.
The Tepocas and Tiburones are fierce, cruel, and treacherous,
more warlike and courageous than the Ceris of the mainland, who
are singularly devoid of good qualities, being sullenly stupid,
lazy, inconstant, revengeful, depredating, and much given to
intemperance. Their country even has become a refuge for evil
doers. In former times they were warlike and brave, but even
this quality they have lost, and have become as cowardly as
they are cruel.[200]
[200] Ibid., p. 590.
It is evident that this characterization of “the Ceris of the mainland”
was based on the degraded scavengers outlawed by the tribe and attached
to the missions and pueblos during much of the historical period.
It was also during the seventies that the errors and uncertainties of
three and a half centuries concerning the coasts of the Californian
gulf were finally brought to an end through the surveys of Commander
(now Admiral) George Dewey, U. S. N., and the officers of the United
States ship _Narragansett_, under the direction of the Hydrographic
Office of the United States. These surveys resulted in trustworthy and
complete geodetic location of all coastwise features, in geographic
placement of the entire coast-line, in soundings of such extent as
to determine the bottom configuration, in tidal determinations, in
recognition of the currents, in definition of harbors and anchorages,
and eventually in a series of elegant and accurate charts (dated
1873-75) available for the cartographers and navigators of the world.
As the largest island in the gulf, Tiburon received especial attention;
its coast was accurately surveyed and mapped, while the interior
was sketched in considerable detail, and the adjacent channels were
carefully defined and sounded.
Naturally the surveyors came into contact with the Seri tribesmen. Of
them Commander Dewey wrote:
During the greater part of the year Tiburon Island is resorted
to by the Seris (or Ceres) tribe of Indians, who inhabit the
adjacent mainland, and their huts and encampments may be seen
in many places along the shore, principally on the eastern side
of the island. They are reputed to be exceedingly hostile and
to use poisoned arrows in opposing the landing of strangers on
what they consider their domain, but during the stay of the
_Narragansett_ in the vicinity they were very friendly. At
first they were shy and made threatening gestures, but soon
finding that our intentions were peaceable, became friendly
and returned our visits to the shore by frequent and lengthy
calls on board ship. They are very expert in hunting with the
bow and arrow and in catching fish and turtles, which abound
in the surrounding waters. The canoes of these Indians deserve
especial mention. They are made of long reeds, which are bound
together with strings after the manner of fascines, three of
which when fastened together ... have sufficient buoyancy to
support one or two persons. They kneel in these canoes when
paddling, the water being at the same level in the canoe as
outside of it.[201]
[201] Publication No. 56, U. S. Hydrographic Office, Bureau of
Navigation. The West Coast of Mexico, from the Boundary Line between
the United States and Mexico to Cape Corrientes, including the Gulf of
California (revised edition), 1880, p. 145.
Illustrations of the “Tiburon canoe” (or balsa), drawn by H. Von
Bayer, were also introduced.[202] In addition Mr Von Bayer succeeded
in obtaining two photographs of Seri Indians, taken on shipboard; one
of these is of special interest in that it illustrates the peculiar
attitude of the Seri archer in the act of using his weapon.[203]
[202] Ibid., pl. XV, p. 136 (one of these illustrations is reproduced
in figure 28).
[203] The negatives of these pictures were retained by Mr Von Bayer,
and have been kindly turned over to the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Unfortunately the archery negative had been shattered, but enough of
the fragments were preserved to show all essential details and to
afford a basis for the drawing reproduced in plate XXIX.
Unfortunately the surveys were confined to the coast, and the interior
remained unmeasured and unmapped save on the basis of tradition
and travelers’ tales, supplemented by a few vague itineraries and
traverses. Except along the international boundary and the railway
(Ferrocarril de Sonora), the locations of pueblos and ranches remained
guesses, the delineation of mountains remained a work of imagination,
and even the best cartographers continued to run in rivers at random or
in such wise as to afford artistic effect.[204]
[204] The imposing official map of 1890, titled Carta General de la
Republica Mexicana, formada en el Ministerio de Fomento con los datos
mas recientes, por disposicion del Secretario del Ramo, General Carlos
Pacheco, engraved and printed by Erhard Hermanos, Paris, on a scale of
about 32 miles to the inch, represents Rio Bacuache as about the right
length and with its center in about the right location, but as running
at almost exactly right angles to its actual course; and it contains
divers other equally startling errors.
* * * * *
In 1879 M. Alphonse L. Pinart traveled extensively in northern Mexico
and southwestern United States, and made considerable linguistic
collections among various tribes. Desiring to obtain a Seri vocabulary,
he planned a visit to the tribal territory; but on reaching Caborca in
March he was met by the information that the Seri were on the warpath,
and had recently devastated a hacienda on their frontier and slain more
than a dozen white settlers.[205] Thence he repaired to Pueblo Seri,
and early in April obtained there a Seri-Spanish vocabulary of several
hundred words, with a number of short phrases throwing some light on
the grammatic construction. This record was transmitted to Dr Albert
S. Gatschet. It comprises a title page inscribed “Vocabulario de la
lengua Séri Interprete el GI. de los Seris y otro Indio. Pueblo
de Seris 4 Abril 1879”; four foolscap sheets (written on both sides,
thus making 16 pages) of vocabulary; and a final page bearing two short
phrases and inscribed “Los Séris, me dice el general de ellos, son como
doscientos hombres de llevar armas—viven todavia parte en la isla de
Tiburon, parte en la costa.[206] Pueblo de Seris, 4 Abril, 1879, Alph.
Pinart.” A transcript of this invaluable vocabulary is preserved in the
Bureau of American Ethnology. There is nothing either in the original
vocabulary or in the known correspondence relating to it to identify
the aboriginal informant, but the identification is made easy through
the coincident testimony of living witnesses and the unmistakable
implication of the historical records to the effect that there was at
that time but a single Seri Indian[207] resident at Pueblo Seri—i. e.,
the official interpreter, “El General” Kolusio. This identification is
strengthened by the remarkable similarity between this vocabulary and
that of Bartlett, a similarity made the more striking by the fact that
one was recorded in English, the other in Spanish; the identification
is supported, too, by Kolusio’s memory of “giving his language” to
a stranger “not a Mexicano” yet familiar with the Spanish; and the
identification is practically established by the considerable number
of terms expressing concepts alien to the Seri (e. g., ax, adobe,
house, horse, hog, field, irrigate, pigeon, thresh, tobacco, shirt,
the names of the months, etc.), evidently acquired through long and
intimate acquaintance with Mexican customs and domiciles and modes
of thought—for all these concepts were familiar enough to Kolusio,
yet to no other known Seri Indian of recent decades. Accordingly it
may be deemed practically certain that M Pinart’s vocabulary, like
that of Commissioner Bartlett, was obtained from Kolusio; and it is
at least strongly probable that both the Lavandera-Ramirez and the
Tenochio-Pimentel vocabularies were derived from the same aboriginal
source—an indubitably excellent source, save for the occasional
interjection of alien notions, and the infrequent substitution of
foreign equivalents for forgotten terms.
[205] Recorded by Gatschet, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Berlin, Band
XV, 1883, p. 130. The location of the hacienda was not specified,
but there are local traditions of Seri raids about that time, both
at Hacienda Serna (between Caborca and Libertad anchorage) and at
Bacuachito.
[206] “The Seris, the chief tells me, comprise about 200 men fit to
bear arms—they still live part on the island of Tiburon, part on the
coast.”
[207] M Pinart’s reference to his interpreter is not only impersonal
but ambiguous. “Interpreted by the chief of the Seri and another
Indian” might be considered to imply _two_ Seri Indians, though it
may, with equal linguistic probability, be interpreted to mean _the_
specified Seri and another Indian; and while the temporary presence of
a second Seri at the pueblo seems possible, the sum of probabilities
points so clearly the other way as to demand the latter interpretation.
Barred from Seriland by the current war craze, M Pinart was prevented
from obtaining much collateral information concerning the Seri; but he
concluded (on grounds not stated) that “the Tepoca spoken on the south
of Rio del Altar is identical with the Seri”,[208] and also that “the
Guaymas were of the stock of the southern Pimas, or Nebomes”.[209]
[208] Gatschet, op. cit., p. 131.
[209] Bandelier, Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of
the Southwestern United States, part i, in Papers of the Archæological
Institute of America, American series, iii, Cambridge, 1890, p. 76.
As already noted, it is probable that the Guayma lost their “antigua
idioma” (Ramirez, op. cit. p. 149) long before M Pinart’s visit; and
pending definite statement of the facts on which his conclusion rests
it is necessary to retain the classification based on specific and
repeated, albeit unskilled, observations of the identity of the Guayma
speech with that of the Seri.
While M Pinart failed to publish, his linguistic collections were
compared, systemized, and made public by Dr Albert S. Gatschet in a
notable memoir on “Der Yuma-Sprachstamm”, 1883. Comparing the Seri,
as represented by the Pinart and Bartlett and Pimentel vocabularies,
with the Yavapai, M’Mat, and incidentally with the Konino, Tonto,
Cochimi, and other tongues, Dr Gatschet was led to adopt the suggestion
of Professor Wilhelm Herzog[210] that the Seri is a dialect of the
Yuman stock. In the comparative vocabulary, which comprises about a
hundred and forty Seri words (selected from the 611 terms in the Pinart
collection), there are perhaps a dozen terms presenting some similarity
to those of one or more Yuman dialects; among these are terms for ax,
tree, split, tobacco, heaven, pigeon, dog, and others of presumptively
or certainly alien character.[211]
[210] In correspondence with Dr Gatschet, op. cit., p. 133.
[211] Dr. Gatschet has recently revised the data and recognized the
distinctness of the Seri tongue (Science, new series, vol. XII, 1900,
p. 556-558).
Herzog’s suggested classification, with Gatschet’s indorsement, was
accepted even more promptly and widely than the earlier classifications
of Pimentel and Orozco. It was tacitly adopted by Director J. W. Powell
in his classic arrangement of Indian linguistic families of America
north of Mexico;[212] it was explicitly approved by Adolph F. Bandelier
in his “Final Report of Investigations”;[213] and it was implicitly
accepted and fortified by Dr Daniel G. Brinton in his work on “The
American Race”.[214] Brinton’s Seri words were “chiefly from the
satisfactory vocabulary obtained by the late John Russell Bartlett”; of
the 21 terms, about 8 (including that for the alien concept “house”)
suggest affinity with the Yuman, chiefly in the Mohave dialect; the
others are either wholly distinct or only superficially similar,
e. g., in the concurrence of a consonant or two, or merely in the
correspondence in number of syllables.[215]
[212] Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1885-’86;
Washington, 1891, p. 137.
[213] Op. cit., p. 74.
[214] The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic
Description of the Native Tribes of North and South America; New York,
1891, p. 335.
[215] Mr. Hewitt’s discussion (postea, pp. 299-344) gives fuller
details of this short vocabulary.
* * * * *
Stated briefly, the scientific researches relating to Seriland and the
Seri during the fifty years from the fourth decade of the century to
the middle of the last decade resulted in (1) a satisfactory survey
of the coast, (2) the collection of two excellent Seri vocabularies,
with a few others of less extent, and (3) two discrepant linguistic
classifications of the tribe, both widely quoted and accepted.
During the half century of historical silence from 1844 forward, and
pending the progress of the desultory researches, the Seri suffered a
succession of external shocks more serious in their internal effects
than any of those of the three centuries preceding; indeed it is just
to say that during this half century the Seri range was curtailed, the
Seri customs were modified, and the Seri population was diminished
more effectively than during the preceding sesquicentury of fairly
definite record. The chief factor in this transformation was an
intrepid pioneer, who pushed actual settlement toward the Seri frontier
more vigorously than any predecessor—Señor Pascual Encinas, a son of
Sonora.[216]
[216] The following paragraphs are condensed from oral recitals by
Señor Encinas (a notably straightforward and judicious authority),
supplemented and corroborated in all essential details by Señores
Andres Noriega, Ygnacio Lozania, and several other habitués of the
Seri borderland, as well as by Kolusio and Mashém, several Papago
informants, and various collateral documents.
Born near Hermosillo in 1819, Don Pascual was in early maturity at the
time of Colonel Andrade’s expedition, and was fully conversant with
the later history of the Seri. Of adventurous disposition, and holding
interests in Bacuachito, he was familiar with the Seri frontier; and
in hunting deer and other large game over the vast delta plain of
Rio Sonora he had perceived the agricultural possibilities of the
region. During the struggle of 1844 he became impressed with the idea
that the Seri might be controlled and gradually inducted into useful
citizenship through a judicious combination of industrial, educational,
and evangelical agencies; and before the end of the year he began the
establishment of a rancho (the present Rancho San Francisco de Costa
Rica) on the Seri borderland, with the double object of developing new
resources and regulating the relations between tribesmen and settlers.
Enlisting the aid of a corps of vaqueros, mechanics, and farmers,
he excavated a deep well, erected corrals and adobe houses, cleared
away the exceptionally luxuriant mesquite forests, fenced fields, and
stocked the plains with horses, burros, and cattle. At the same time he
sought Seri wanderers and treated them with such kindness and firmness
as to gain their confidence; and while most of the tribe held aloof,
some attached themselves to the rancho, and a few even were taught to
labor; albeit in desultory fashion. In this stage, as for some years
afterward, he was materially aided by his contemporary, Kolusio, then
in his physical prime and still in good repute among his kinsmen.
Meantime he obtained the assignment of two priests, who made it their
chief duty still further to placate the tribesmen and their families
and to induct them into religious observances and belief; and as the
confidence of the Indians increased, he had two boys domiciled in the
rancho and educated in the Spanish as well as in the faith, in the hope
that they might pass into priesthood and so form a future bond with
their kin. One of these neophytes disappeared in the troublous times
of a later decade, though tradition indicates that he became a tribal
outcast (like Kolusio still later) and slunk away to Pitiquito and
Altar, and afterward to California; the other, christened Juan Estorga
and nicknamed El Gran Pelado (“The Great Shorn”), survives as subchief
Mashém, long since relapsed into his native savagery, save that he
remembers the Spanish, affects a hat, cuts his hair to the neck (whence
his nickname), and prefers footgear to the fashion of his fellows.
Industrially, Don Pascual’s venture proved successful; the fertile
soil, periodically watered from below by the underflow of the
semiannual freshets, yielded incredible crops; reveling in the
exceptional floral wealth of the delta and tided over bad seasons
by the artificial forage, the stock increased and multiplied beyond
precedent; and so the rancho became a flourishing establishment,
housing a score or more of families and harboring a hundred or two
dependents, in addition to the thousands of half-wild horses and
cattle. Meantime, the industrial lines ramifying from the rancho formed
a drag net for Seri raiders, practically cutting off forays eastward
toward Hermosillo and Horcasitas, and greatly reducing the sallies
southeastward toward Guaymas and northeastward toward Bacuachito and
Caborca; and Don Pascual began to receive recognition and state and
federal concessions as a public benefactor. For a decade the industrial
and evangelical influence and the effect of the bold kindness of
El Patron extended and became felt throughout the tribe, and most
of the families visited the rancho at least occasionally. Yet even
the best of them remained averse to labor save in sporadic spurts,
and indifferent to the religious teaching, save when sweetened by
substantial largess; while all but the decrepit and the two carefully
restrained neophytes came and went capriciously, and were much given to
decamping incontinently by night to return shamefacedly one by one in
the course of a week or two, without consistent or adequate excuse for
their stampede—indeed the vaqueros habitually classed these nocturnal
flights of the Seri and the reasonless stampedes of their stock in
the same category. Ostensibly a few of the larger boys and girls and
a still smaller number of the adults were helpers about the rancho;
actually they were scavengers, consuming the waste of the shambles and
the earth-mixed scatterings from the thrashing floors, and saving the
rancheros the noisome duty of removing the carcasses of animals dead
by disease or accident; and as their indolence increased under the
easy régime, they grew into more and more open thievery. By no means
deficient in shrewdness and cunning, they adopted numberless devices
for imposing on the credulity of the majordomo and other officials
of the rancho. When coin-like tokens of stamped copper were used in
the transactions of the rancho as equivalents of labor, the Seri
ingeniously obtained sheet copper by stealth or barter, systematically
counterfeited the tokens, and exchanged them for supplies at the rancho
store; it was a favorite trick to surreptitiously break the neck or a
leg of a horse, cow, or burro, and report finding the dead or crippled
animal, at the same time begging for the carcass; and, whenever
opportunity offered, they slyly slaughtered a head of stock, consumed
it to the hoofs and horns and larger bones, sucked up the blood
stains, and buried the few remains in cactus thickets, impenetrable
save by their own hardy limbs and bodies. Nor did any of the tribe
except the two restrained neophytes ever really enter the collective
life of the patriarchal group headed by Don Pascual; they attended no
industrial or social or churchly function save in response to reminder
and solicitation; they craved the white man’s medicines in slight
disorders, but rejected them in extremis; and the dying or dead were
spirited away to be inhumed and mourned, according to their wont, in
their harsh but beloved motherland.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VII
HOUSE FRAMEWORK, TIBURON ISLAND]
[Illustration: HOUSE COVERING, TIBURON ISLAND]
During this period of mutual toleration the Seri were so deeply
influenced by the white contact that, for probably the only time in
their history, they voluntarily allowed an alien free entry into
their territory; and Don Pascual explored the coast of Bahia Kino,
projected a port, and even visited Isla Tiburon twice or thrice. In
one of these visits he was ferried over Boca Infierno on a balsa, but,
finding himself unable to keep pace with the swift-footed Seri on their
hilly pathways, he returned for his saddle mule; halfway across, the
poor animal swimming behind the balsa suddenly plunged and struggled,
and, on landing, hobbled out on three legs—the fourth having being
snapped by a shark. Warned by this incident, Don Pascual abandoned a
half-formed plan of stocking the island, and afterward brought up a
small vessel from Guaymas in which he carried across a dozen caballeros
(including Don Ygnacio Lozania, who had visited the island with the
Andrade expedition); and this party examined the southeastern quarter
of the island, watering two or three times at Tinaja Anita, and
pushing as far westward as Arroyo Carrizal. On this trip he studied
the Seri house-building, and was the first to note the large use of
turtle-shells and sponges in the process.[217]
[217] Typical Seri jacales, as described by Don Pascual in 1894, were
observed on Tiburon by the 1895 expedition, as shown by the photographs
reproduced in plates VII, VIII, and IX.
About the middle fifties it became apparent that the Seri were
dividing into a parasitical portion clustered about the rancho (as
their forbears gathered about Populo and Pueblo Seri long before),
and a more independent faction clinging to their rugged ranges and
gale-swept fishing grounds; and it became evident, too, that the
thievery of the dependent faction would soon ruin the rancho if not
checked, or at least greatly diminished. Accordingly the passive policy
was modified by introducing a more active police service. At first
the penalties for theft and misdemeanors were light, and the system
promised well—especially as even a slight punishment was equivalent
to banishment, the criminal fleeing to Tiburon on his escape or
immediately after the crime; yet the experience of a year or two proved
that the escaped parasites seldom resumed the hard customs of their
tribal life, but generally returned to the borderland and there preyed
on the wandering stock from the rancho. Finally, driven to extremity,
and supported by the state and federal authorities (themselves
confessedly unable successfully to cope with the condition), Don
Pascual reluctantly adopted a severer régime. Sending out as messengers
several Seri still remaining at the rancho, he convened the leading
chiefs and clanmothers of the tribe in a council, and announced that
the stock-killing must cease, on pain of a Seri head for each head
of stock thereafter slain. The Indians seemingly acquiesced, and
separated; but within two days a group of Seri women “milled” a band
of horses, caught and threw one in such wise as to break its neck,
and immediately sucked its blood, gorged its intestines, and buried
its quarters to “ripen”, after their former fashion. Thereupon a
matron remaining near the rancho was sent to demand the delivery of
the perpetrators; and, when she failed to return, the vaqueros were
instructed to shoot the first Seri seen on the llano. Within two days
more, the tribe were on the warpath for revenge—and the war raged for a
decade.
During the early months of the Encinas war Don Pascual’s vaqueros
sought merely to enforce the barbaric law of a head for a head; but,
as they found themselves beset by ambush, assailed and wounded by
night, despoiled of favorite animals, and kept constantly in that
most nerve-trying state of eternal vigilance, their rancor rose to
an intensity nearly equal to the savage passion for blood-vengeance;
and thenceforth the Seri were hunted from the plain east of Desierto
Encinas precisely as were the stealthy jaguar and sneaking coyote—and
the ghastly details were better spared. There were few open battles;
commonly the vaqueros rode in groups and guarded against ambuscades,
and the Seri were picked off one by one; but once in the early sixties
Don Pascual, at the head of some 30 vaqueros, fell into an ambush on
the frontier, and several of his horses were killed and some of his
men wounded, while 60 or 70 Seri warriors were left on the field.
Don Pascual’s horse received a slight arrow wound, to which little
attention was paid; next morning the gash was swollen and inflamed and
the beast too stiff and logy for use; in the afternoon the glands under
the jaw were swollen, and there was a purulent discharge from eyes and
nostrils. On the second morning the animal was hardly able to move, its
head was enormously swollen, there were fetid ulcers about the jaws and
throat, and the swelling extended to the legs and abdomen. On the third
morning there were suppurating ulcers on various parts of the body,
while rags of putrefied flesh and stringy pus hung from the head and
neck, and the animal was unapproachable because of the stench; during
the day it dropped dead, and even the coyotes and buzzards shrank from
the pestilential carcass. This and parallel incidents impressed Don
Pascual with the dangers incident to Seri war; but fortunately the fact
that he—the leader of the party, the first to fall into the ambush,
and the target of most of the arrows—had escaped unscathed impressed
still more deeply the surviving savages, and they soon sued for peace.
Thenceforth he was revered as a shaman greater than those of the tribe,
feared as an invulnerable fighter, and honored as a just lawgiver;
and gradually the condition of mutual tolerance was restored, to
rest on a firmer basis than before.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VIII
SPONGE USED FOR HOUSE COVERING, TIBURON ISLAND]
Don Pascual estimates that during the dozen years of strife between
his men and the Seri forces about half of the tribe were slain. The
horror of the history of this period may be passed over; it may merely
be noted as a casual fact that one of the two Mexicans accompanying the
1895 expedition was credited with 17 Seri heads. When he pointed out
the site of his last exploit, a mile or two south of Rancho Libertad,
and some incredulity was expressed, he immediately galloped to the
spot and brought back a silent witness in the form of a bleached Seri
skull.[218]
[218] The specimen described by Dr Hrdlička, postea, p. 141.
At the close of the war Don Pascual continued the industrial
development of the plains lying east of the desert border of Seriland,
received new concessions in recognition of his conquest, and developed
the ranches of Santa Ana and Libertad; but the evangelical arm of his
vigorous mission gradually withered. For a dozen years the Seri looked
up to “El Patron” as a quasi ruler, whose approval was requisite for
the ratification of chieftainship, and through him ran a slender thread
of nominal fealty to the state and the republic; yet few parasites
gathered about the rancho. Mashém had gone back to his clan; and
when depredations were committed at Bacuachito or elsewhere and the
criminals were caught, usually through Don Pascual’s instrumentality,
they were sometimes haled to Hermosillo for trial, and Kolusio was
kept there as the official interpreter of charges and evidence and
findings. Sometime during the sixties a few Seri youths were coaxed to
Pueblo Seri for education, but when they were instructed to cut their
hair they slunk dejectedly to their temporary domicile, only to decamp
during the ensuing night; again, in 1870, Kolusio was commissioned
to bring in a few young people and a matron or two of the tribe, and
succeeded in doing so just in time to encounter an epidemic of measles,
from which some died, while the others shook the dust of the pueblo
from their feet forever; and this last straw, added to his alien
residence and his presence at the dreaded trials, broke down the tribal
toleration of Kolusio and made him an outlaw forever.
In the later seventies Don Pascual’s energies began to wane, while the
Seri population was waxing again; and, although the Encinas frontier
was protected, raids began to recur toward Bacuachito, on the ranchos
southwest of Caborca, and sometimes toward Guaymas; and the hostilities
then engendered have never terminated. In the eighties Don Pascual
suffered from cataract, gradually losing his sight, and his rule
relaxed still further; Rancho Libertad was abandoned, and a condition
of armed neutrality supervened at San Francisco de Costa Rica and Santa
Ana; and this condition still persists, save as occasionally modified
by a crude sort of diplomacy on the part of the Seri: when blood-feud
is not burning (and it is usually extinguished by the killing of an
alien on the coast or some remote part of the frontier), and when no
stock have been slaughtered for some months, an aged woman may be
seen skulking about the mesquite clumps in sight of the rancho; if
her presence is tolerated for a day or two, she approaches to beg for
water and food and to receive the cast-off rags hastily forced on her
nakedness by the sensitive señoras; if she deem her welcome not too
chill, she erects a jacal a few hundred yards away, and there she is
usually found, a morning or two later, to be accompanied by a younger
matron with a child or two; and if these are tolerated, the rancheria
may grow to half a dozen jacales and half a hundred persons.[219] The
band may remain a fortnight or even a month; but in case of serious
illness of any of their number, or of threat or punishment for petty
peccadillos, or of an unusual storm, or of a brilliant meteor, or of
any exceptional occurrence about the rancho, the rancheria is commonly
found empty next morning. If the attachés of the rancho are indisposed
to tolerate the first envoy, yet feel kindly rather than rancorous, she
is merely dogged and stoned away like a depredating domestic animal
from another hacienda; if the rancor of past encounters remains, the
mercy accorded her is precisely that shown the predatory coyote or
other feral animal from the fastnesses of the sierras—and the tribe
take warning and doubtless rejoice that their loss is no greater.
[219] A typical single jacal and the entire rancheria gathered at Costa
Rica in 1894 are shown from photographs in plates X and XI.
* * * * *
Any recital of the common history of the peculiarly savage Seri and
the whites necessarily conveys an exaggerated notion of intimacy and
mutual influence, since it emphasizes the few positive interrelations
scattered along the decades of neglected nonrelation; and this is true
of the Encinas régime as of earlier centuries. The great fact is that
throughout their recorded history the Seri have touched civilization
so slightly and so seldom that the effect of each contact was largely
lost before the next supervened; and the unprecedentedly intimate
contact of the Encinas régime, especially during the initial period
of abnormal toleration, serves less to indicate relationship in
characteristics and sympathies than to measure the breadth of the chasm
between the Seri and the Mexican—a chasm not exceeded, and probably
not equaled, elsewhere in America. About the middle fifties, probably
every Seri above infancy and below decrepitude had seen Don Pascual
and some other habitués of the rancho; they yielded to the seductions
of indolent scavengering apparently more numerously than ever before;
they substituted cast-off rags and barter-bought manta (plain cotton
cloth) for the products of their own primitive weaving; they ate
cooked food when it fell in their way; they half-heartedly adopted
metal cutting implements, and sought or stole nails and hoop-iron for
arrowpoints; some of them acquired a smattering of Spanish, and many
of them solicited and sported Spanish names, just as they begged and
flaunted tawdry handkerchiefs and beads; and they generally enjoyed
mildly the ecclesiastical fiestas, and took kindly to the cross as a
symbol of peace and plenty and perhaps of deeper import. Yet even
during this halcyon term no Seri save Kolusio and the Altar outlaw
ever learned to live in a house; none but these and Mashém wore hats
habitually; and, despite the fact that they often witnessed and
sometimes playfully or perforce participated in the processes, no Seri
ever really encompassed the idea of house-building or even of making
adobe. Though surrounded by horses when near the rancho, they never
learned to ride nor to use the animals otherwise than for immediate
slaughter and consumption; though in frequent sight of skilful ropers,
they never fully grasped the idea of the riata, preferring to seize
their prey with hands and teeth; though familiar with the agricultural
operations of the rancho, they never turned a sod nor planted a seed
on their own account; though in frequent sight of cooking, they seldom
began and never finished the process with their own food; though
acquainted with firearms, they continued to regard them as thaumaturgic
devices, and chose the bow and arrow for actual use; though submitting
to apparel on the frontier, they commonly cast away the incumbrances
on returning to their lairs; and no Mexican or other Caucasian ever
saw within their esoteric life—their names remained unrevealed, their
hair remained sacred, their mourning for the dead was unheard save at
a distance, and no alien, even unto today, has ever seen the birth of
their babes, the christening of their children, the burial of their
dead, or the ceremonies of their shrines. The Seri and the whites were,
indeed, mutually tolerant; but, so far as concerns mutual sympathy, the
toleration was almost precisely on a par with that between the ranchero
and the vulture-flock that scavengers his corrals—and when depredation
began the toleration was of a piece with that between householders and
their unwillingly domiciled rodents. It is not too much to say that the
interracial mistrust and hatred of the Western Hemisphere culminates on
the borders of Seriland; though the antipathy is commonly regarded by
the alien tribesmen and the Mexicans as other than racial, since the
Seri are felt to be hardly human—a feeling fully shared by the Seri,
who undoubtedly deem themselves more closely akin to their deified
bestial tutelaries than to the hated humans haunting their borders.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IX
HOUSE SKELETON, TIBURON ISLAND.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR HOUSE STRUCTURE, TIBURON ISLAND.]
* * * * *
Even during the Encinas régime the Seri came in occasional contact with
aliens on other parts of the frontier: on Hacienda Serna, the somewhat
remoter borderland outpost on the north, the relations between the
landholders and the Seri were analogous to those on the Encinas plains,
though less acute in the ratio of relative distance. Occasionally
small parties of warriors journeyed to Guaymas[220] on balsas or on
foot to barter pelican-skin robes for Caucasian commodities, chiefly
aguardiente and manta; still more rarely similar pilgrimages were
made to the outskirts of Hermosillo; a few marauding raids were made
to the ranches lying near Cieneguilla and Caborca; and a number
of ill-advised prospecting parties, coming by land or water, paid
the penalty of foolhardiness. Writing about 1864, Historian Velasco
recurred to the Seri to say:
[220] The accompanying plate XII is reproduced, from a photograph of
a small group of Seri traders taken near Guaymas, probably during the
eighties. It was kindly furnished by F. A. Ober, who purchased it in
Guaymas.
This handful of bandits, assassins, thieves, brutes
[inhumanos], infinitely vile and cowardly, on February 28 last,
on the Guaymas road, at the place called Huerfano, assassinated
4 unhappy women, including a girl of 9 years, and 7 men who
were conducting them in a cart toward that port.
He bitterly denounced the apparent apathy of the state and federal
authorities, adding:
When it is read in history fifty years hence that a handful
of murderous Ceris, certainly not more than 80 of the tribe
able to bear arms, was able to domineer in the midst of their
crimes with unexampled audacity on account of the debility
of the government and the inhabitants, it will be regarded
as a romance or a fable; for it seems impossible that in the
nineteenth century such a condition of things could exist to
degrade the reason, the morality, and the dignity of civilized
man.
Yet a final note, apparently added in press, recorded that—
In consequence of the last incident of the Ceris, the prefect
of Guaymas, Don Cayetano Navarro, took the field, returning
with 12 women and 16 children prisoners; also 2 striplings and
a vieillard. He slew 9 among those who had no leader. This was
on Isla Tiburon. The Indians fled thence, and are supposed to
be at Tepococ.[221]
[221] Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica, tomo
XI, 1862, pp. 124-125.
These may be considered as characteristic skirmishes attending the
Encinas war. Other episodes followed, including the outbreaks of 1879,
noted in part by M Pinart. Bacuachito suffered in various locally
important events that will never be written: when Don Jesus Omada,
a water-guide to the expedition of 1895, was asked about the Seri
at Bacuachito, he answered with cumulative vehemence, “They killed
my father. They killed my brother! They killed my brother’s wife!!
They have killed half my friends!!!” As he spoke he was feverishly
baring his breast; displaying a frightful scar over the clavicle, he
exclaimed, “There struck a Seri arrow”; then he stripped his arm with a
single sweep to reveal a ragged cicatrix extending nearly from shoulder
to wrist, and added in a tone tremulous with pent bitterness, “The Seri
have teeth!”
In the course of the half century from 1844 onward, the population of
Sonora increased materially, and carried more than a proportionate
increase in the development of agricultural and mineral resources; and,
especially under the beneficent Diaz régime, the state passed from the
condition of a remote frontier province into that of a well-governed
commonwealth. Naturally this progress carried the Caucasian element,
including that of blended blood, farther and farther away from the
nonprogressive Seri; and thereby the horror and detestation awakened
by the very utterance of the name of the lowly tribe were intensified
beyond description or ready understanding. The traditions of arrow
poisoning were kept alive, and, doubtless, growing; the recitals of
carrion eating were repeated, and possibly—just possibly—magnified
beyond the reality; the accounts of offense and defense by nails
and teeth (such as that of Jesus Omada) passed from mouth to mouth
until—incredible as it may seem—the more timid Sonorenses stood in
greater dread of these natural weapons of the Seri than of their brutal
clubs and swift-thrown missiles, or even of their poisoned arrows;
while traditions of cannibalism came up and received such general
credence that the current items of Seri outrages, both in local gossip
and in the Mexican and American press, customarily recounted savage
butcheries ending with gruesome feastings on the raw or slightly
cooked flesh of the victims. The shuddering antipathy felt for the
perpetrators of these inhumanities even a thousand miles away increased
toward their frontier, as light toward its source; the dread was
deepened by the failure of punitive expeditions sent out again and
again only to be balked by waterless sand-wastes or wrecking tiderips;
and in 1894 and 1895, at least, the horror of the Seri was a daily and
nightly incubus on half the citizens of Hermosillo and the tributary
pueblos and ranchos, and a thorn in the flesh of the state officials.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. X
TYPICAL SERI HOUSE ON THE FRONTIER]
* * * * *
The external history of the Seri since the spring of 1894 is fairly
known, both through the direct researches and through press reports,
and would seem to be typical. This era may be assumed to open with
the arrival on Tiburon’s shores of the sloop _Examiner_, carrying
two San Francisco newspaper writers, Robinson and Logan, with two
assistants, Clark and Cowell. The to-have-been-expected happened
duly, save that two of the party escaped, and on reaching Guaymas
advertised the disaster through correspondence and the press. Several
of the accounts indicated that the two victims were not only slain
but eaten, and various plans were laid in California, Arizona, and
Sonora for the recovery of the bones[222]—as if, forsooth, the
omnivorous and strong-toothed Seri spared anything save scattered
teeth and split sections of the longer shafts of skeletons the size
of those of _Homo sapiens_. While in Guaymas the two survivors set up
claims for indemnity, which initiated international correspondence and
inquiry into the details of the affair. These details are indicated,
in sufficient fulness for present purposes, in a formal communication
incorporated in the international correspondence, viz.:
[222] A number of Californians and Arizonians, especially M. M. Rice,
of Phoenix, intimated a strong desire to join the 1895 expedition of
the Bureau of American Ethnology for the express purpose of personally
ascertaining the fate and seeking the remains of Robinson, who was
extensively known in southern California and southwestern Arizona.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY,
_Washington, December 14, 1894._
SIR: Early in November I visited the Seri tribe of Indians,
inhabiting Tiburon island in the Gulf of California and
an area of several thousand square miles of the adjacent
mainland in Sonora, Mexico. The visit was for the purpose
of making collections under your authority as Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution; but I availed myself of the
opportunity for obtaining additional information relating to
the customs, habits, and history of the tribe. In addition to
my own party I was accompanied by Señor Pascual Encinas, a
prominent citizen of Hermosillo, and owner of several ranchos
adjacent to, and one within, the territory claimed by the
Seri Indians; also by Señor A. Alvemar-Leon of Hermosillo, a
young Mexican gentleman educated in the United States. For
Señor Encinas the Seri Indians have the highest regard, and
his kindly motive in accompanying the party was to facilitate
friendly intercourse with the Indians; Señor Alvemar-Leon acted
as Spanish-English interpreter, and one of the tribe who speaks
Spanish [Mashém] acted as the Seri interpreter.
One of the subjects of inquiry of the Indians related to the
alleged killing of two Americans by the Seri Indians on Tiburon
island during last spring at a date not definitely known
either to the Indians or to myself. At first the Indians were
indisposed to convey information on the subject, but after
receiving presents from Señor Encinas and myself, and friendly
assurances from the former, the interpreter for the tribe
confessed the crime and detailed the circumstances, denying,
however, that any of the Indians present at the place of
conference (Rancho de San Francisco de Costa Rica, 17 leagues
west-southwest of Hermosillo and near the coast) participated.
According to the first account given through the Indian
interpreter, the Indians on the island saw a small vessel
approach the shores of the island, and saw four men land
therefrom in a small boat. The spokesman among the strangers
made inquiry, chiefly by signs, as to whether game was abundant
in the interior of the island, and was by signs answered in
the affirmative by the chief of the tribe, who displayed a
letter of authority from the state officials at Hermosillo.
Then the strangers divided, two remaining on the shore by the
small boat, while the spokesman and another, accompanied by
several Indians, started toward the interior of the island.
When they were some distance away—the account continues—some of
the Indians remaining on shore indicated by signs a desire to
borrow the rifle of one of the two men on the beach, and after
some parley the rifle was turned over to them; then the Indians
desired also to borrow the small boat in which the party of
white men had landed, and after one of the two men remaining
on the shore was put aboard the vessel, this, too, was placed
in the hands of the Indians. Thereupon several of the Indians
entered the small boat, carrying the white man’s rifle, and
rowed around a headland a short distance away. Passing this
point they landed and a part of them ran quickly into the
interior in such direction as to intercept the course of the
white men. There they lay in wait until the strangers appeared,
when they shot the spokesman, killing him almost instantly.
On this the second white man cried out for help, whereupon he
too was shot and wounded, and then (according to the first
account) ran away and concealed himself in the bushes and was
seen no more. The Indians who had borrowed the boat then went
back to the shore, and reentered the boat with the intention
of returning and capturing the fine vessel of the strangers;
but as they approached the vessel, being at the time quite near
the shore, the man on board arose suddenly with a gun pointed
toward them and shouted, whereupon they dropped the borrowed
gun and, leaping from the boat, ran away among the mesquite
bushes, all escaping unhurt. The white man on the beach then,
as the account ran, leaped into the boat, and, recovering his
gun, rowed to the vessel and got aboard, when the two men at
once made sail and escaped down the bay.
The foregoing account was given to Señor Encinas alone by the
Indians through their interpreter, and was afterward conveyed
to me through Señor Alvemar-Leon. Both of us recognized the
incongruity with the character of the Seri Indians of that part
of the narrative relating to the wounding and escape of the
second man, and Señores Encinas and Leon and myself sought to
impress the improbability of the account on the interpreter.
Subsequently the Indians, through their interpreter, conveyed
to Señor Encinas a modification of the account (after adhering
to the first version for twenty-four hours), which agreed
in all essential respects with the first, excepting the
supplementary statement that some of the Indians (but neither
the party who accompanied the white men nor those who followed
in the boat) ran after the wounded man, caught him, shot him
again—whereupon he again cried out—and then killed him
with stones. This modified account, also, Señor Encinas duly
conveyed to me.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XI
OCCUPIED RANCHERIA ON THE FRONTIER]
Still later, in collecting linguistic material through the
Seri interpreter with the assistance of Señor Alvemar-Leon, I
recurred to the subject incidentally (or at least ostensibly
so) on two or three occasions, partly with the view of
verifying or disproving the current report that the men were
eaten by the Indians; and since the first distrust on the part
of the interpreter and the companions (by whom he was commonly
surrounded) had worn off, the questions were answered freely
and with apparent truth. In brief, the information gained in
this way was a repetition in general terms of the statement of
the killing of both men; but the responses indicated (1) that
the Indians are not cannibals, (2) that they do not eat any
portion or portions of the body of an enemy slain in war, (3)
that they do not eat human flesh in a sacrificial way, and (4),
specifically, that they did not eat the flesh of the two white
men killed last spring. I am disposed to give credence to all
of these statements.
Señor Encinas informed me that for a long time after the
reputed killing of the two Americans on the island the Seri
were exceptionally shy and were seldom seen on the mainland;
that the first representatives of the tribe to appear were one
or two old women who came to his rancho with much trepidation;
that these representatives being not ill-treated, a man
appeared, who was also well treated, and that still later other
members of the tribe appeared, though it was only a few days
before our visit that any considerable body of the Seri Indians
showed themselves at their favorite mainland haunt on his
rancho. It was his first communication with the Indians since
the killing, and, both he and they agreed, the first confession
of the crime outside of their own tribe.
While in Sonora various conflicting accounts of the affair were
given me. One, to which I was disposed to attach credence by
reason of the character of my informant and his explanation of
the circumstances under which the information was gained, was
given me (just before the visit referred to above) by ex-Consul
Forbes, of Guaymas. This account corresponds in all essential
details with that conveyed to my party by the Indians, except
that, according to Mr Forbes’ account, the survivors were
altogether unarmed after the borrowing of the rifle by the
Indians, and that when the man in the boat arose suddenly and
shouted he pointed at the Indians not a gun but a stick, in the
hope of deceiving them thereby, as he was fortunate enough to
do.
It may be added that the Seri Indians are at the same time the
most primitive and the most bloodthirsty and treacherous of
the Indians of North America, so far as my knowledge extends;
also that their character is well known throughout Sonora, and
indeed generally throughout Mexico, Arizona, and the southern
part of California. I was assured by the acting governor of
Sonora and by the prefect of Hermosillo that it would be little
short of suicide for even a Mexican official to visit these
Indians or land on their island without an armed guard. Through
conference with the Indians, also, I learned that any white
man, Mexican, or Indian of another tribe coming in contact with
them is killed without the slightest compunction, unless they
are restrained by fear. Accordingly I am satisfied that the
character of the Seri Indians is quite as bad as the unsavory
reputation they have acquired throughout the Southwest.
It should be observed that while the Indians were unable to
give the names of the men killed, their description of men and
vessel agreed exactly with those of the newspaper correspondent
Robinson and his companion, and with the sloop Examiner; and Mr
Forbes’ information was obtained direct from the survivors of
the expedition of which Mr Robinson had charge. There can thus
be no doubt that it was Mr Robinson and his companion who were
killed by these Indians, and whose killing was confessed by
them, as set forth above.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
W J MCGEE,
_Ethnologist in charge._
Honorable S. P. LANGLEY,
_Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution._
On first learning of the incident, months before the diplomatic
correspondence began, the state and federal authorities promptly
adopted vigorous punitive measures. A vessel carrying a force of
federal troops was dispatched from Guaymas and a body of state troops
were sent from Hermosillo with instructions to meet on the coast
and capture the criminals at any cost, even to the extermination of
the tribe if resistance was offered. But like so many others, the
expedition failed; the horses of the land party were stalled in the
sands and burrow-riddled plains, the vessel was harassed by storms and
tidal currents, and the landing boats were swamped by the surf, while
the Indians merely fled at sight of the invaders toward inaccessible
lairs or remote parts of their territory; and when the water was gone
and men and animals were at point of famishing, the forces retired
without so much as seeing a single Seri.
During the ensuing autumn the tribe, having quenched their blood-feud
in alien blood, turned toward peace, and sent a matron of the Turtle
clan, known as Juana Maria, to Costa Rica—i. e., Rancho de San
Francisco de Costa Rica—where she was gradually followed by younger
matrons and children, then by youths, and finally by warriors (after
the fashion of Seri diplomacy) to the aggregate number of about
sixty. Here they were found by the first expedition of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, in November, 1894; and here, under the still strong
influence of the venerable Don Pascual, supplemented by small gifts and
persistent pressure, they gradually “gave their language”, submitted
to extensive photographing, confessed specifically to the Robinson
killing, and yielded up nearly the whole of their portable possessions
in the way of domestic implements and utensils, face-painting material,
pelican-skin robes, snake-skin necklaces, etc.
With the return of the Bureau party to Hermosillo the Indians became
restive and soon withdrew beyond the desert. In the course of the
ensuing winter a group returned to the neighborhood of Costa Rica,
where, by aid of strategy, seven warriors (including some of those
seen at the rancho in the preceding November) with the families of
four, were arrested, taken to Hermosillo, tried, and, according to
oral accounts, banished. Irritated by this action, and connecting with
it the visit of Don Pascual and the strangers desiring their language
and sacred things, the clans resumed the warpath, displaying special
animosity toward the residents of Costa Rica. There were a few minor
skirmishes; then, at the instance of the state officials, a number of
Papago Indians, who are feared by the Seri beyond all other enemies,
were domiciled at the rancho, where their mere presence proved a
sufficient protection. Meantime, according to apparently trustworthy
press accounts, two small exploring parties entered Seriland; the first
consisted of seven prospectors, who kept well together until about
to leave the territory, when one of their number fell behind—and his
companions saw him no more, though they carefully retraced their trail
beyond the point at which he had stopped; the other was a German
naturalist-prospector with two mozos (servant-companions), purporting
to hail from Chihuahua, who started across the delta-plain of Rio
Bacuache and Desierto Encinas with saddle animals, and never reappeared.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XII
GROUP OF SERI INDIANS ON TRADING EXCURSION]
Then came the second expedition of the Bureau of American Ethnology, to
which several Papago domiciled at Costa Rica were attached as guards.
While the party were at the rancho the day before the first entrada
into Seriland via Barranca Salina, a party of vaqueros from Rancho
Santa Ana tended a herd of stock to the barranca for water; one of
the animals strayed behind a dune, and the vaqueros, following its
trail, came on a small band of Seri already devouring the entrails,
and attacked them so vigorously that they escaped only by outrunning
the horses, leaving behind all their unattached possessions, including
a bow and quiver of arrows and an ancient and nonusable army rifle.
This incident, albeit typical, was untimely, and doubtless aided in
rendering the Indians too wild to permit communication with the aliens
during the ensuing weeks spent in their territory.
After the withdrawal of this expedition the Seri resumed their range
over the borderland plain, with the evident intention of avenging the
insult of the invasion. There were a number of skirmishes, in which
some of the Papago guards of the 1895 expedition were wounded and had
horses killed under them, though they did customary execution on the
worse-armed Seri; and extensively published press items indicate that,
toward the end of January, 1896, a party of five gold prospectors
landed on Tiburon, whence one escaped.
A well-attested episode ensued toward the end of 1896: Captain George
Porter and Sailor John Johnson spent the later part of the summer in
cruising the coasts of the Gulf, collecting shells, feathers, and
other curios in the small sloop _World_. About the end of October they
apparently anchored in Rada Ballena; and a day or two later Captain
Martin Mendez, of Guaymas, in charge of the schooner _Otila_, being
driven up the gulf and into Bahia Kunkaak by storms, came on a horde
of Seri looting Porter’s vessel. The episode received publicity on
Mendez’s return to Guaymas; United States Consular Agent Crocker
instituted inquiries, and Governor Corral sent a force to Costa
Rica, where, after some delay, a parley was held with a strong band
of Seri under the chiefship of “a seven-foot warrior named El Mudo
(The Mute), ... so called for his reticence of speech.”[223] The
testimony obtained at the parley and from Captain Mendez indicates
that Porter and Johnson landed, or at least approached the shore,
probably in a small boat; that they were met by a shower of arrows,
under which Johnson immediately fell, while Porter defended himself
with a shotgun, slaying five of the Seri before he was himself
transfixed; that the vessel was then looted, and that Mendez and his
crew were prevented from landing and apparently driven off by the Seri
force. In the course of the parley the state officials “demanded the
surrender of the ringleaders in the massacre”, with the alternative of
“regarding the whole tribe as guilty and punishing them accordingly”;
but El Mudo, evidently holding the invasion of the island as the
initial transgression and deeming the loss of the tribe under Porter’s
marksmanship as more than commensurate with the Caucasian loss,
peremptorily ended the conference and returned to the island. Vigorous
efforts were made to pursue the tribesmen beyond their practically
impassable frontier, with the usual product of ruined horses and
famished riders. Then the episode died away in an armed neutrality
strained somewhat beyond the normal. Meantime the Papago guards
remained at Costa Rica. “They are continuously on the lookout for these
Seris, and once or twice have killed a stray one or two.”[224]
[223] San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 1898, p. 3. The details of
the episode, including the correspondence of Consular Agent Crocker,
were printed in the newspapers of San Diego (the place of residence of
Porter and Johnson), as well as in those of San Francisco and other
cities; and there was considerable correspondence concerning the matter
with the State Department at Washington. Some reports recount that the
bodies of Porter and Johnson were rent to fragments and devoured, but
these details naturally lack confirmation. El Mudo’s portrait appears
in plate XIX.
[224] The quotations are from the account of T. H. Silsbee, of San
Diego, prepared on his return from a visit to Costa Rica.
Both before and after the Porter-Johnson episode schemes were devised
by various parties, chiefly Californians, for obtaining concessions
covering Tiburon and its resources, most of these schemes involving
plans for the extermination of the Seri; and press accounts indicate
that a concession covering the islands of the gulf above the latitude
of 29° (i. e., including about half of Isla Tiburon) was granted
to an American company of much distinction. It would appear from
numerous news items that representatives of the company sought to land
on Tiburon, where they were first cajoled with offerings of food,
afterward found to be poisonous, and later driven off by an enlarged
force of naked archers. A recent publication bearing some official
sanction announces that “Mr W. J. Lyons, of Hermosillo, Sonora, has
secured a concession for the exploration of the island and in November
of this year will fit out an expedition for that purpose.”[225] The
various movements are significant as indices of current opinion and
official policy with respect to the tribe.
[225] El Estado de Sonora, Mexico. Sus Industrias, Comerciales, Mineras
y Manufacturas. Obra Publicada bajo los Auspicios del Gobierno del
Estado. Obra Ilustrada, Octubre de 1897. By J. R. Southworth, Nogales;
p. 73.
* * * * *
On the whole, the later episodes are natural sequels of the eventful
and striking earlier history of the Seri; and they can only be
interpreted as pointing to early extinction of one of the most strongly
marked and distinctive of aboriginal tribes.
TRIBAL FEATURES
DEFINITION AND NOMENCLATURE
According to Mashém and the clanmother known as Juana Maria, the
proper name of the tribe known as Seri is _Kunkáak_ (the first vowel
obscure and the succeeding consonant nasalized; perhaps _Kⁿ-káak_ or
_Kᵐ-káak_ would better express the sound). According to Kolusio, as
rendered by M Pinart, the Seri term for people or nation is _kom-kak_,
while the Seri people are designated specifically as _Kmike_, this
designation being practically equivalent phonetically (and doubtless
semantically) to Sr Tenochio’s general term for women, _kamykij_.
Mashém was unable or unwilling to give the precise signification of
the tribal appellation used by him, merely indicating Juana Maria
and one or two other elderwomen squatting near as examples or types;
but comparison of the elements of the term with those used in other
vocables affords a fairly clear inkling as to its meaning. The syllable
_kun_ (or _kⁿ_, _kon_, _kom_, etc.) certainly connotes age and
woman, and apparently connotes also life or living (_kun-kaīe_=old
woman, McGee; _i-kom_=a wife, _ekam_=alive, Bartlett; _hikkam_=a
wife, _kmam-kikamman_=a married woman, _Yak-kom_=Yaqui tribe, Pinart;
_kon-kabre_=an old woman, Tenochio), the forms being distinct from the
word for woman (_kmamm_, McGee; _ék-e-mam_, Bartlett; _kmam_, Pinart
and Tenochio) and widely different from the term for man (_kŭ-tŭmm_,
McGee; _ék-e-tam_, Bartlett; _ktam_, Pinart; _tam_, Tenochio) with its
several combining variants; there are also indications in numerous
vocables that it connotes person or personality. On the whole, the
syllable appears to be an ill-formulated or uncrystallized expression,
denoting at once and associatively (1) the state of living or being,
(2) personality, (3) age or ancientness (or both), and (4) either
femininity or maternity (much more probably the latter), this inchoate
condition of the term being quite in accord with other characters
of the Seri tongue, and frequently paralleled among other primitive
languages. The syllable _kaak_ (or _kak_, and probably _kok_, _koj_,
_kolch_, etc.) would seem to be a still more vague and colloidal
term, despite the fact that it is used separately to designate
the fire-drill. There are fairly decisive indications that it is
composite, the initial portion denoting place and the final portion
perhaps more vaguely connoting class or kind with an implication
of excellence, both elements appearing in various vocables (too
numerous to quote). On the whole, _kaak_ would appear to be a typical
egocentric or ethnocentric term, designating and dignifying Person,
Place, Time, and Mode, after the manner characteristic of primitive
thought;[226] so that it may perhaps be translated “Our-Great-(or
Strong-)Kind-Now-Here”. The combination of the two syllables affords
a characteristically colloidal connotation of concepts, common enough
in primitive use, but not expressible by any single term of modern
language; in a descriptive way the complete term might be interpreted
as “Our-Living-Ancient-Strongkind-Elderwomen-Now-Here,” while with
the utmost elision the interpretation could hardly be reduced
beyond “Our-Great-Motherfolk-Here” without fatal loss of original
signification. It should be noted that the designation is made to cover
the animals of Seriland (at least the zoic tutelaries of the tribe) and
fire as well as the human folk.
[226] Cf. The Beginning of Mathematics, in the American Anthropologist,
new series, vol. I, 1899, p. 651.
The proper tribe name is of no small interest as an index to primitive
thought, and as an illustration of an early stage in linguistic
development. It is significant, too, as an expression of the matronymic
organization, and of the leading role played by the clanmothers in
the simple legislative and judicative affairs of the tribe; and it is
especially significant as an indication of the intimate association of
fire and life in primitive thought.
* * * * *
The designation “Seri”, with its several variants, is undoubtedly an
alien appellation, and neither Mashém nor Kolusio could throw light
on its origin or meaning, though they did not apparently regard it as
opprobrious. Peñafiel describes it as an Opata term; and Pimentel’s
Opata vocabulary[227] (extracted from the grammar and dictionary
compiled by Padre Natal Lombardo) indicates its meaning satisfactorily,
albeit without special reference to the tribe. The key term in this
vocabulary is “_Sërerài_, velocidad de la persona que corre.” The
accent over the first vowel serves to indicate prolongation, so that
term and definition may be rendered, literally, _se-ererài_, speed of
the person who runs. Analysis of the term shows that the essential
factor or root is that introduced elsewhere in the same vocabulary
as “_Ere_, llegar.” Now, “llegar” is a protean and undifferentiated
Spanish verb neuter, without satisfactory English equivalent; it may
be interpreted as arrive, reach, attain, fetch, endure, continue,
accomplish, suffice, ascend, or mount to, while as a verb active and
verb reflective its equivalents are approach, join, proceed a little
distance, unite, etc.; it may be said to imply movement or process with
a centripetal connotation—i. e., a connotation antithetic to that of
the expressive irregular verb “ir” in its protean forms, including
the ubiquitous and ever-present “vamos” (an American slang equivalent
of the Castilian verb “llegar” in certain of its phases is the strong
interjectory phrase, “get together”). The prefix se is merely an
intensive, running not merely through the Opata, but throughout various
tongues of the Piman stock. In his extensive vocabulary of the Pima and
Papago Indians of Arizona (1871),[228] Captain F. E. Grossmann defines
the term “_se_, very, ad. (prefix)”, and over a hundred and fifty of
his terms illustrate the use of this adjectival or adverbial prefix
as an undifferentiated yet vigorous intensive (e. g., _uf_, female or
woman, _se-uf_, a lady—great or grand woman; _ō´k_, high or height,
_se-ō´k_, highmost); and in the Pimentel vocabulary this signification
is attested by several other terms (e. g., “_Sererai_, paso menudo
y bueno”). Finally, the intercalated consonant _r_ is a common
participial element in the Piman, while the suffix _ài_ is a habitual
assertive termination, as shown by various terms in the Pimentel and
other vocabularies. Dropping this termination, the expression becomes
_se-erer_, or—without the nonessential participial element—_se-ere_,
signifying (so far as can be ascertained from the construction of the
language) “moving”, or “mover”, qualified by a vigorous intensive.[229]
To one familiar with the strikingly light movement characteristic of
the Seri—a movement far lighter than that of the professional sprinter
or of the thoroughbred “collected” by a skilful equestrian, and
recalling that of the antelope skimming the plain in recurrent impulses
of unseen hoof-touches, or that of the alert coyote seemingly floating
eerily about the slumbering camp—this appellation appears peculiarly
fit; for it is the habit of the errant Seri to roam spryly and swiftly
on soundless tiptoes, to come and go like fleeting shadows of passing
cloudlets, and on detection to slip behind shrub or rock and into the
distance so lightly as to make no audible sign or visible trail, yet
so fleetly withal as to evade the hard-riding horseman. The Seri range
over a region of runners: the Opata themselves are no mean racers,
since, according to Velasco and Bartlett, “In twenty-four hours they
have been known to run from 40 to 50 leagues”;[230] and, according to
Lumholtz, their collinguals, the Tarahumari, or “Counting-Runners”, are
named from their custom of racing,[231] and display almost incredible
endurance:
[227] Vocabulario Manual de la Lengua Ópata, por Francisco Pimentel;
Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica, tomo X,
1863, pp. 287-313.
[228] In the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
[229] The latter form (_se-ere_) corresponds precisely with the current
Papago pronunciation of the term, though none of the various Papago
informants consulted were able to interpret the expression; indeed,
they simply relegated it to the category of “old names” which they
deemed it needless to discuss. An archaic form of orthography, noted in
the synonymy (pp. 128-130), is SSeri, which suggests the same sounding
of the initial sibilant.
[230] From 105 to 130 miles; Bartlett, Personal Narrative, vol. I, p.
445.
[231] Memoirs of the International Congress of Anthropology, Chicago,
1894, p. 104. In a letter to Mr F. W. Hodge, under date of September
11, 1900, Dr Lumholtz says: “After renewed investigation I have come to
another opinion regarding the meaning of the tribal name _Tarahumari_.
This word is a Spanish corruption of the native name ‘Raramuri’. Though
the meaning of this word is not clear, that much is certain that
_rala_ or _tara_ means ‘foot’, and I therefore take it that we must
be at least approximately correct when we say that the word signifies
‘foot-runner’.”
An Indian has been known to carry a letter from Guazapares
to Chihuahua and back again in five days, the distance being
nearly 800 miles. In some parts where the Tarahumaris serve
the Mexicans they are used to run in the wild horses, driving
them into the corral. It may take them two or three days to
do it, sleeping at night and living on a little pinole. They
bring in the horses thoroughly exhausted, while they themselves
are still fresh. They will outrun any horses if you give them
time enough. They will pursue deer in the snow or with dogs
in the rain for days and days, until at last the animal is
cornered and shot with arrows or falls an easy prey from sheer
exhaustion, its hoofs dropping off.[232]
[232] American Anthropologist, vol. VIII, 1895, p. 92.
The Papago, of the same region and linguistic stock, have a racing
game in which a ball of wood or stone caught on the foot is thrown,
followed, and thrown again until the two or more rival racers have
covered 20 to 40 miles in the course of a few hours; and their feats
as couriers and trailers are quite up to those of the Opata. Yet among
all these tribes, and among the Mexicans as well, the Seri are known
as _the_ runners par excellence of the Sonoran province; and it is but
natural that their astounding swiftness and lightness of foot should
have brought them an appellation among contemporaries to whom these
qualities peculiarly appeal.
Accordingly, both derivation and connotation give meaning to the name,
and warrant the rendering (much weakened by linguistic infelicities)
of “spry” or “spry-moving”, used in substantive sense and with an
intensive implication.
* * * * *
The chronicles of the tribe, especially those written during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, indicate that the alien
designation was applied loosely and with little appreciation of the
tribal organization, just as was the case elsewhere throughout the
continent. Gradually the chroniclers took cognizance of intertribal
and intratribal relations, and introduced various distinctions in
nomenclature expressing tribal or subtribal distinctions of greater
or less importance. One of the earliest distinctions was that between
the Seri and the Tepoka, and this distinction has been consistently
maintained by nearly all later authorities, despite the commonly
accepted fact (brought out most authoritatively by Hardy) that
the tongues of the tribes are substantially alike. Another early
distinction was that made between the Seri and the Guayma; it was based
primarily on diversity of habitat and persistent enmity, though all the
earlier authorities agreed, as well shown by Ramirez, that the tongues
were essentially identical. The distinction has been maintained by
most authorities and strongly emphasized by one (Pinart, as quoted by
Bandelier), and since the Guayma are extinct, and hence beyond reach
of direct inquiry, the early interpretation of tribal relation must be
perpetuated.[233] Still another distinction was that made between the
Upanguayma and the Guayma, and inferentially the Seri also; although
the grounds for this distinction were not specifically stated, it seems
to have grown out of diversity in habitat merely; but there were clear
implications that the tribe or subtribe was affiliated linguistically
with the Guayma, and hence with the Seri, and this assignment has been
adopted by leading authorities, including Pimentel and Orozco. Among
the earlier distinctions based on industrial factors was the setting
apart of the Salineros, or Seri Salineros; yet this distinction,
fortuitous and variable at the best, expressed no essential character
and has not been maintained. A much later distinction was that between
the Seri and Tiburones, emphasized by Mühleupfordt and exaggerated
by Buschmann; but there seem to have been no better grounds for it
than misapprehensions naturally attending a slowly crystallizing
nomenclature. In any event it has not been maintained.
[233] In view of the clear indications, both a priori and a posteriori,
that the latest Guayma survivors must have taken the language of the
Piman (Yaqui) tribesmen with whom they found refuge, and in view of
his failure thus far to present his data for public consideration, M
Pinart’s inference that the Guayma belonged linguistically to the Piman
stock can hardly be admitted to hold against the specific statements of
the Jesuit missionaries and such accomplished inquirers as Ramirez and
Pimentel.
At several stages the chroniclers coupled the Seri with other tribes,
on various grounds: in the eighteenth century they were thus combined
with the Pima, the Piato, and especially the Apache tribes. In the
earlier half of the nineteenth century they were frequently coupled
in similar fashion with the Pima and Apache tribes, and in the later
half of the nineteenth century, and even in its last lustrum, they
have been similarly combined with the Yaqui. The later combinations
seem to explain the earlier: the Yaqui outbreaks withdraw portions of
the arm-bearing population from the Seri frontier, and the marauders
take advantage of the withdrawal so regularly that a Yaqui scare is
invariably followed by a Seri scare, and hence the two warlike tribes
are constantly associated in the minds of the Sonorenses as synchronous
insurrectionists; and scrutiny of the earlier chronicles indicates that
most of the so-called combinations of former times were of similar sort.
On putting the chronicles together, it seems clear that the term “Seri”
was originally of lax application, but was gradually restricted to the
tribe inhabiting Tiburon and ranging adjacent territory, including the
collingual but inimical Guayma and Upanguayma, and also the collingual
and cotolerant Tepoka; and that the various Piman tribes, as well
as the Apache, were always distinct, and commonly if not invariably
inimical.
* * * * *
The ethnic relations of the Seri people attracted early and repeated
attention. Humboldt gave currency, albeit not unquestioningly, to a
supposed Chinese or related Oriental affiliation; Hardy noted the
similarity of the Seri tongue to that of the Patagonians; Lavandera
classed the language as Arabic; Stone and Bancroft circulated a
supposed identification of the speech with the Welsh; Ramirez, and
more especially Pimentel, narrowed the field of affiliation to
Mexico and defined the tongue as distinct; Orozco y Berra, and more
especially Malte-Brun, slightly reextended the field and suggested
affiliation with the Caribs; while Herzog, Gatschet, and Brinton
reextended the field in another direction and saw, in a vocabulary
obtained from a Seri scion but alien thinker, similarities between
the Serian and Yuman tongues. The recent researches tend strongly to
corroborate the evidence collected and the conclusions reached by
Ramirez and Pimentel; for the somewhat extended comparisons between
the Serian and neighboring languages (introduced and discussed in
other paragraphs) indicate that the Seri tongue is distinct save for
two or three Cochimi or other Yuman elements, which may be loan words
such as might readily have been obtained through the largely inimical
interchange of earlier centuries described by Padre Juan Maria de
Sonora and other pioneer observers—certainly the slight and superficial
similarities with other tongues of the region seem insufficient to
meet the classific requirement of supposititious descent from “a
common ancestral speech”.[234] Accordingly the group may be defined
(at least provisionally) as a linguistic family or stock, and may be
distinguished by the family name long ago applied by Pimentel and
Orozco, with the termination prescribed in Powell’s fifth rule,[235]
viz., _Serian_. Conformably, the classification of the group would
become—
[234] Indian linguistic families, by J. W. Powell, in Seventh Annual
Report, Bureau of Ethnology, 1885-86 (1891), p. 11.
[235] Ibid., p. 10.
Serian stock, comprising—
Seri tribe, including Tiburones and (certain) Salineros;
Tepoka tribe;
Guayma tribe;
Upanguayma tribe.
Naturally this classification is provisional in certain respects. It
is little more than tentative in so far as the Tepoka are concerned,
since no word of the Tepoka tongue has ever been recorded, so far
as is known, and since the tribe is still extant and within reach
of research; it must be held provisional also in respect to the
separateness of the stock, which may be found in the future to be
affiliated with neighboring stocks, though the effect of the more
recent and more critical researches in eliminating supposed evidences
of affiliation points in the opposite direction. The arrangement is in
some measure provisional also with respect to the relations between the
long-extinct Guayma and Upanguayma and the type tribe, especially since
contrary suggestion has been offered in terms implying the existence
of unpublished data; yet the presumption in favor of the critical work
by Ramirez, Pimentel, and Orozco is so strong that practically this
feature of the classification may be deemed final.
* * * * *
No attempt has been made to render the tribal synonymy exhaustive,
though search of the records has incidentally brought out the more
important synonyms, as follows:
_Seri Tribe_
CERES—1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 95.
CERI—1875; Pimentel, Lenguas Indígenas, tomo II, p. 229.
CERIS—1745; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 391.
CERIS TEPOCAS—1850; Velasco, Noticias Estadísticas, p. 132.
HERI—1854; Buschmann, Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache, p. 221.
HERIS—1645; Ribas, Triumphos de Nuestra Santa Fee, p. 358.
HERISES—1690 (?); Van der Aa, map.
SADI—1896; San Francisco Chronicle, January 24.
SE-ERE—Etymologic form.
SERES—1844; Mühlenpfordt, Republik Mejico, Band I, p. 210.
SERI—1754; [Ortega], Apostolicos Afanes, p. 244.
SERIS—1694; Mange, Resumen de Noticias (Documentos para la Historia
de Mexico, série 4, tomo I, p. 235).
SERI SALINEROS—1842; Alegre, Historia de la Compañia de Jesus,
tomo III, p. 117.
SERIS SALINEROS—1694; Mange, Resumen de Noticias (Documentos,
série 4, tomo I, p. 321).
SERYS—1754; [Ortega], Apostolicos Afanes, p. 367.
SORIS—1900; Deniker, The Races of Man, p. 533.
SSERI—1883; Gatschet, Der Yuma Sprachstamm, p. 129.
ZERIS—1731; Dominguez, Diario (MS.).
KMIKE—1879; Pinart, MS. vocabulary.
KOMKAK—1879; Pinart, MS. vocabulary.
KUNKAAK—1896; McGee and Johnson, “Seriland”, Nat. Geog. Mag., vol.
VII, p. 133.
SALINEROS—1727; Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, I. 514-1519.
TIBURON—1799; Cortez (Pacific Railroad Reports, vol. III, p. 122).
TIBURONES—1792; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, segunda parte,
p. 426.
TIBUROW CERES—1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 299.
_Tepoka Tribe_
TEPECO—1847; Disturnell, Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Mejico,
New York.
TEPOCA—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 392.
TEPOCA CERES—1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 299.
TEPOCAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 391.
TEPOCOC—1865; Velasco, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo XI,
p. 125.
TEPOKA—Phonetic form.
TEPOPA—1875; Dewey, map.
TEPOQUIS—1757; Venegas, Noticia, tomo II, p. 343.
TOPOKIS—1702; Kino, map (in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott).
TOPOQUIS—1701; Kino, map (in Bancroft, Works, vol. XVII, 1889,
p. 360).
_Guayma Tribe_
BAYMAS—1754; [Ortega], Apostolicos Afanes, p. 377.
GAYAMA—1826 (?); Pike (Balbi), (in Pimentel, Lenguas Indígenas,
tomo II, p. 234).
GUAIMA—1861; Buckingham Smith, Heve Grammar, p. 7.
GUAIMAS—1702; Kino, map (in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott).
GUAYAMAS—1757; Venegas, Noticias, tomo II, p. 79.
GUAYMA—1701; Juan Maria de Sonora, Report (Documentos para la Historia
de Mexico, série 4, tomo V, p. 154).
GUAYMAS—1700; Juan Maria de Sonora, Report (Documentos para la
Historia de Mexico, série 4, tomo V, p. 126).
GUAYMI—1882; Bancroft Works, vol. III, (Native Races, vol. III),
p. 704.
GUAYMIS—1844; Mühlenpfordt, Republik Mejico, Band I, p. 210.
GUEIMAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 401.
GUEYMAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 402.
GUIAMAS—1763; [Nentwig?], Rudo Ensayo, p. 229.
GUIMIES (?)—1701; Kino, map (Bancroft, Works, vol. XVII, 1889,
p. 360).
_Upanguayma Tribe_
HOUPIN GUAYMAS—1829; Hardy, map.
JUMPANGUAYMAS—1860; Velasco, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo
VIII, p. 292.
JUPANGUEIMAS—1748; Villa-Señor, Theatro Americano, p. 401.
OPAN GUAIMAS—1763; [Nentwig?], Rudo Ensayo, p. 229.
UPANGUAIMA—1864; Orozco y Berra, Geografía de las Lenguas, p. 42.
UPANGUAIMAS—1878; Malte-Brun, Congrès International des Américanistes,
tome II, p. 38.
UPANGUAYMA—Synthetic form.
UPANGUAYMAS—1882; Bancroft, Works (Native Races, vol. I, p. 605).
UPAN-GUAYMAS—1890; Bandelier, Investigations in the Southwest, p. 75.
Possibly the name _Cocomagues_ (1864, Orozco y Berra, Geografía de las
Lenguas, p. 42), or _Cocomaques_ (1727, Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, I.
1514-1519) should be introduced among the synonyms of the Seri, but
in the absence of definite information it may perhaps better be left
unassigned.[236]
[236] These names seem rather to be Yuman; cf. _Coco_pa, _Coco_nino,
_Coco_maricopa, _Ko_hun, etc.
Of the four tribes assigned to the stock, the Upanguayma have been
extinct probably for more than a century; the Guayma may survive in a
few representatives probably of mixed blood and adopted language; the
Tepoka have never received systematic investigation, but appear to
survive in limited numbers on the eastern coast of Gulf of California
about the embouchure of the Rio Ignacio sand-wash; while the Seri alone
continue to form a prominent factor in Sonoran thought.
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
The most conspicuous characteristic of the Seri tribe as a whole is
isolation. The geographic position and physical features of their
habitat favor, and indeed measurably compel, isolation: their little
principality is protected on one side by stormy seas and on the other
by still more forbidding deserts; their home is too hard and poor to
tempt conquest, and their possessions too meager to invite spoliation;
hence, under customary conditions, they never see neighbors save
in chance encounters on their frontier or in their own predatory
forays—and in either case the encounters are commonly inimical. The
natural isolation of the habitat is reflected in modes of life and
habits of thought; and during the ages the physical isolation has come
to be reflected in a bitter and implacable hereditary enmity toward
aliens—an enmity apparently forming the strongest motive in their life
and thought, and indeed grown into a persistent instinct. Thus the
Seri stand alone in every respect; they are isolated in habitat and
still more intensely isolated in habits of thought and life from all
contemporaries; they far out-Ishmael the Ishmael of old on Araby’s
deserts.
The isolation of the Seri in thought and feeling is well illustrated
by the relations with their nearest neighbors (activitally as well
as geographically), the Papago Indians. The Papago are much esteemed
in Sonora as fearless fighters, always ready to join or even to lead
a forlorn hope; yet when the expedition of 1895 was projected it was
found no easy matter to induce the picked Papago guards quartered at
Costa Rica to enter Seriland. They were ready, indeed mildly eager,
for fray, provided it were on the frontier; but they held back in
dread from actual invasion of the territory of the hereditary enemy.
Like representatives of the faith-dominated culture-grades generally,
they spoke weightily of inherent rights descended from the ancient
time, even back unto the creation; they repeatedly declared the right
of the Seri to protect their territory because it was _theirs_; yet
their converse but served to show the depth and persistence of their
abhorrence of the Seri and of everything pertaining to them. And when
gales arose to delay the work, when the frail craft of the party was
storm-buffeted and lost for days, when they were seized with the
strange sickness of the sea, when the salt and sugar mysteriously
disappeared (having been secretly sacrificed to diminish suffering
from thirst), when all of the earth-powers and air-powers seemed to be
arrayed against the expedition, they stoically held it to be but just
punishment for a sacrilegious infraction of the ancient law—and their
steady adherence to duty, despite tradition and physical difficulty
and constant danger, revealed a real heroism. The strain was no slight
one; it may have been felt more by the stay-at-homes than by the men
in action; certainly a sister of one of the party (Anton Castillo) and
spouse of a supporter at the supply station broke under the strain,
and died of her terrors—and the return of the party was, to the Papago
women and oldsters at least, as the rising of the dead. The dread
inspired by the personal presence of the alien is stronger still; when
the Seri rancheria at Costa Rica was visited in 1894 it was found
needful to keep the Papago interpreter and others of the tribe at a
distance, since the mere sight of the inimical tribesmen threw even the
women and children into watchful irritation, like that of range-bred
horses at scent of bear or timber-wolf, or that of oft-harried cats and
swine at sight of passing dog—they instinctively huddled into circles
facing outward, and ceased to think connectedly under the stress of
nervous tension. The irritation was so far mutual that it was days
before the usually placid interpreter, José Lewis, recovered his normal
spirits; while the 1895 interpreter, Hugh Morris, was actually rendered
ill by the mere entrance into Seriland at Pozo Escalante. And the
antipathy between Seri and Yaqui is nearly as great as that between the
common-boundary neighbors.
The instinctive antagonism, or race antipathy, between the Seri and
the widely distinct Caucasian is less trenchant and intense than the
local antipathy; yet even between Seri and Caucasian there would
seem to be hardly a germ of sympathy. In the days of his prime, the
Tiburon islanders flocked around Don Pascual, first as a provider of
easy provender and later as a superpotent shaman whose wrath bore
destruction; yet their allegiance was never more than that of the cowed
and beaten brute to a hated trainer, and his coming never brought a
smile to their stolid features—indeed, his passage among their jacales
was met with the same stolid yet sinister indifference accorded the
solitary visitor to a menagerie of caged carnivores. And no sooner did
his vision become impaired than their fear-born veneration evaporated,
and their native antipathy reappeared in original virulence. The 1894
party was fortunate in successfully treating a sick wife of sub-chief
Mashém, and subsequently spent days in the rancheria, distributing
gifts to old and young in a manner unprecedented in their experience
and making liberal exchanges for such small possessions as they wished
to spare; yet, with a single possible exception, they succeeded
in bringing no more human expression to any Seri face or eye than
curiosity, avidity for food, studied indifference, and shrouded or
snarling disgust. Among themselves they were fairly cheerful, and the
families were unobtrusively affectionate; yet the cheerfulness was
always chilled and often banished by the approach of an alien. The
Sonorenses generally hold the Seri in indescribably deep dread as
uncanny and savage monsters lying beyond the human pale; while the
reciprocal feeling on the part of the Seri toward Caucasians, and still
more toward Indian aliens, seems akin to that of the average man toward
the rattlesnake, which he flees or slays without pause for thought—it
seems nothing less than intuitive and involuntary loathing. The Seri
antipathy is at once deepened into an obsession and crystallized
into a cult; the highest virtue in their calendar is the shedding of
alien blood; and their normal impulse on meeting an alien is to kill
unless deterred by fear, to flee if the way is clear, and to fawn
treacherously for better opportunity if neither natural course lies
open.
Concordantly with their primary characteristic, the Seri have avoided
ethnic and demotic union beyond the narrow limits of their own kindred;
and even of these they seem to have cast out parts, annihilating the
Guayma and Upanguayma, displacing and nearly destroying the Tepoka,
and outlawing individuals and (apparently) small groups. The earlier
chronicles indicate that the Jesuit missionaries, and after them the
Franciscan friars and the secular officials, sought to scatter the
tribe by both cajolery and coercion, and endeavored to divide families
by restraint of women and children and by banishment of wives; there
are loose traditions, too, of the capture and enslavement of Indian
and Caucasian women in Seriland; yet the great fact remains that not a
single mixed-blood Seri is known to exist, and that no more than two of
the blood (Kolusio and perhaps one other) now live voluntarily beyond
the territorial and consanguineal confines of the tribe. The romantic
story of a white slave and ancestress of a Seri clan, sometimes
diffused through pernicious reportorial activity, is without shadow of
proof or probability; the tradition of the captivity of a Papago belle
was corroborated, albeit indefinitely, by Mashém’s naive admission
that an alien women was once kept as a slave to a childless death due
to her inaptitude for long wanderings; and there is not a single known
fact indicating even so much as miscibility of the Seri blood with
that of other varieties of the genus _Homo_. Naturally the presumption
of miscibility holds in the absence of direct evidence; yet the
presumption is at least partially countervailed by conspicuous biotic
characters, such as color, stature, etc., so distinctive as almost to
seem specific: the Seri are distinctively dark-skinned, their extreme
color-range (so far as known) being less than their nearest approach
to any neighboring tribe; they are nearly as distinctive in stature,
the difference between their tallest and shortest normal adults being
apparently less than that between their shortest and the tallest of the
neighboring Papago—though they are not so far from the more variable
and often tall Yaqui; and they appear to be no less distinctive in such
physiologic processes as those connected with their extraordinary food
habits. Still more distinctive are the demotic characters connected
with their habits of life and modes of thought; and when the sum of
biotic and demotic characters is taken, the Seri are found to be set
apart from all neighboring Sonoran tribes by differences much more
striking than the individual range among themselves.[237]
[237] It seems probable that the Seri were nearer to tribes of southern
Baja California than to those of Sonora at the time of the earliest
explorations, yet that the distinction was sufficiently strong to
warrant the extension of the proposition to these tribes also.
It is especially noteworthy that the Seri have held aloof from that
communality of the deserts which has brought so many tribes into
union with each other and with their animal and vegetal neighbors
through common strife against the common enemies of sun and sand—the
communality expressed in the distribution of vital colonies over
arid plains, in the toleration and domestication of animals, in
the development of agriculture, and eventually in the shaping of a
comprehensive solidarity, with the intelligence of the highest organism
as the controlling factor.[238] Dwelling on a singularly prolific
shore, the Seri never learned the hard lesson of desert solidarity, but
looked on the land merely as a place of lodgment or concealment, or as
a source of luxuries such as cactus tunas, mesquite beans, and tasty
game; they never formed the first idea of planting or cultivating,
and their only notion of harvesting and storing against time of need
was the intolerably filthy one of nature’s simplest teaching; they
apparently never grasped the concept of cooperation with animals, and
came to tolerate the parasitical coyote only in that its persistence
was greater than their own, and in so far as it was stealthy enough to
hide its travail and the suckling of its young against their ravening
maws; and they apparently never rose to real recognition of their own
kind in alien forms, but set their hands against agricultural and
zoocultural humans as peculiarly potent and hence especially obnoxious
animals. Naturally their racial intolerance was seed of battle and
blood-feud; and they would doubtless have melted away under the general
antagonism but for the natural barriers and unlimited food of their
restricted domain.
[238] The Beginning of Agriculture, American Anthropologist, vol. VIII,
1895, p. 350. The Beginning of Zooculture, ibid., vol. X, 1897, p. 215.
At present, as for the later and best-known decades of their history,
the Seri are absolutely without extratribal affiliations, or even
sympathy. When the chronicles of three centuries are scanned in the
light of recent knowledge, it seems practically certain that they have
been equally isolated since the dawn of Caucasian history in Mexico;
and both recent data and the chronicles combine with the principles of
demotic development to indicate that the Seri have stood alone from the
beginning of their tribal career, and have never foregathered with the
neighboring tribes of distinct blood, distinct arts and industries,
distinct organization, distinct language, and distinct thought and
feeling.
The present isolation of the Seri throws light on their early
history and reveals the extent of the misapprehension of the pioneer
missionaries, who half deluded themselves and wholly deluded distant
readers into the notion that the Seri were really proselyted and
actually collected in the mission-adjuncts of military posts
established to protect settlers against forays of the tribe; for, as
illumined by later and fuller knowledge of the tribal characteristics,
the chronicles are seen to indicate merely that a few captives,
malingerers, cripples, spies, and tribal outcasts were harbored at
the missions until death and occasional escapes brought the colonies
to a natural end, with no real assimilation of blood or culture on
either side. So, too, the persistent tribal antipathy reveals the
error of confounding the independent or even inimically related
outbreaks of the Seri and of the Pima or Apache with the concerted
action of confederated tribes. Doubtless the ever-watchful spies from
Tiburon habitually gave notice of the disturbance due to outbreaks of
contemporary tribes, just as they do today when the local soldiery
are withdrawn for duty on the Yaqui frontier; naturally the civil and
military authorities were thereby led to provide for protection against
the Seri and Piato, against the Seri and Pima, or against the Seri and
Apache at each period of disturbance, just as they provided against
the Seri between periods; and it would appear that this association in
thought and speech led to the unconscious magnification, in the minds
of the chroniclers, of a supposed alliance.
In brief, the tribal relations of the Seri seem always to have been
antipathetic, especially toward the aboriginal tribes of alien blood,
in somewhat less measure toward Caucasians, and in least—yet still
considerable—degree toward their own collinguals and (presumptive)
consanguineals.
POPULATION
So far as could be ascertained by inquiries of and through Mashém in
1894, the Seri tribe then comprised about 60 or 70 warriors, with
between three and four times as many women and children—i. e., the
population was apparently between 250 and 350. The group of about
60 (including 17 warriors) seen at Costa Rica was evidently growing
rapidly, to judge from the proportion of youths of both sexes, infants
in arms, and pregnant women; and there are other indications that
the tribe is prolific and well-fitted to survive unless cut off in
consequence of the hereditary antipathy toward alien blood and culture.
The population estimates of the past are naturally vague. In 1645 Ribas
spoke of the tribe as “a great people”; and a century later Villa-Señor
expressed himself in somewhat similar terms, and described their range
in such manner as to indicate a population running into thousands.
A few years after Villa-Señor (in 1750), Parilla claimed to have
annihilated the entire tribe, with the exception of 28 captives; but
according to Velasco’s estimates, the people numbered fully 2,000 some
thirty years later, when the tribe was, however, once more nominally
annihilated. In 1824 Troncoso estimated the Seri at over 1,000, and
two years later Retio reckoned the population of Isla Tiburon alone
at 1,000 or 1,500, while Hardy thought the entire tribe might number
3,000 or 4,000 at the utmost. About 1841 De Mofras put the aggregate
population at 1,500; and at the time of the vigorous invasion by
Andrade and Espence (1844), when a considerable number of the tribe
were captured and a few slain, the total population was estimated
at about 550—though it is probable that a good many tribesmen were
left out of the reckoning. According to the chroniclers, a number of
the Seri were slain after, as well as before, this invasion; and in
1846 Velasco estimated the tribe at less than 500, including 60 or 80
warriors. This estimate was in harmony with that made by Señor Encinas,
who reckoned the tribe at 500 or 600 at the beginning of his war, in
which half the tribe lost their lives. The figures of Velasco and
Encinas correspond fairly with the reckoning by Mashém in 1894, due
allowance being made for natural increase and for the losses through
occasional skirmishes; and Mashém’s count is shown not to be excessive
by the considerable number of jacales and rancherias and well-trodden
pathways found throughout Seriland in 1895.
On the whole it seems probable that the Seri population extended well
into the thousands at the time of the Caucasian invasion; it seems
probable, also, that the body was then too large for stability under
its feeble institutional bonds, and hence threw off by fission the
Guayma and Upanguayma fractions, and the Angeles, Populo, and Pueblo
Seri fragments. Furthermore, it seems probable that the prolific
group fairly held its own against these normal losses and repeated
decimations by battle up to the Migueletes-Cimarrones war of 1780,
despite the vaunted annihilation in 1750; but that thenceforward the
death-rate due to increasingly frequent encounters with incoming
settlers exceeded the birth-rate, gradually reducing the tribe from
some 2,000 to the 250 or 300 surviving the Encinas conflict. Finally,
it seems probable that the tribe has again held its own and perhaps
increased slowly under the renewed isolation of the last decade or two.
SOMATIC CHARACTERS
Several physical characteristics of the Seri Indians are so conspicuous
as to attract attention even at first sight. Perhaps the most striking
is the noble stature and erect yet easy carriage; next in prominence
is the dark skin-tint; a third is the breadth and depth of chest;
another is the slenderness of limbs and disproportionately large size
of extremities, especially the feet; still another is length and
luxuriance of hair; and an impressive character is a peculiar movement
in walking and running.
The mean stature of the adult Seri may be estimated at about 6 feet
(1.825 meters) for the males, and 5 feet 8 inches (1.727 meters) or 5
feet 9 inches (1.73 meters) for the females, these estimates resting
on visual comparisons between Caucasians of known stature and about
forty adult Seri of both sexes at Costa Rica in 1894. In several of
the accompanying photomechanical reproductions (e. g. plates XIII,
XVI, XIX, XXIII, and XXVIII) a unit figure, introduced partly for the
encouragement of the individuals and groups but chiefly to afford a
basis for approximate measurement, gives opportunity for test of the
estimate, the figure measuring 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 meters) to 5
feet 11½ inches (1.812 meters), and weighing about 215 pounds in the
costume shown, including hat and boots.[239] These pictures and some
thirty unpublished photographs, like the observations on the ground,
indicate that practically all of the fully adult males and several of
the females overtop the Caucasian unit. The only definite measurement
known is that of the youthful and apparently immature female skeleton
examined by Dr Hrdlička, of which the dimensions indicate a stature
(estimated by the method of Manouvrier) of about 5 feet 3¾ inches (1.62
meters),[240] or 3½ inches above the female normal of 5 feet ¼ inch
(1.53 meters) given by Topinard; but this considerable stature is,
probably on account of the youth of the subject, much below the mean
indicated by the ocular and photographic comparisons (it corresponds
fairly with that of the Seri maiden represented in plate XXV, whose age
was estimated at 18 years). Naturally this striking stature, especially
that of the warriors, has been much exaggerated by casual observers;
the typical warrior, El Mudo, depicted in plate XIX, is indeed commonly
reckoned as a 7-footer, though his actual stature (diminished somewhat
in the pictures by fearsome shrinking from the ordeal of photographing)
can hardly exceed 6 feet 3 inches (1.90 meters); while for centuries
the folk have been reputed a tribe of giants.
[239] The average net height and weight of the unit figure (that of the
author) are about 5 feet 8⅝ inches and 200 pounds, respectively.
[240] Or about 1.6176 meters estimated by the method of Rollet (cf. The
Races of Man, J. Deniker, London, 1900, p. 33).
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XIII
GROUP OF SERI INDIANS ON THE FRONTIER]
The estimation of Seri stature is difficilitated by the impossibility
of defining maturity; and the effort to determine whether particular
individuals were adult brought out clear indications of slowness in
reaching complete maturity, i. e., of the continuation of somatic
growth throughout an exceptionally long term in proportion to other
stages in the life of the individual. Thus, with scarcely an exception,
the polyparous matrons were taller than the mean of 5 feet 9 inches,
while the apparently adult maidens (with one exception) and the
younger wives were below this mean; and in like manner the stature
of the warriors varied approximately with appearance of age, all of
the younger men falling below the mean, and all of the older (except
Mashém) rising above it. The difficulty of estimation is further
increased by the absence of age records and the impracticability of
ascertaining and standardizing the habitually guarded expressions
for relative age implied in the kinship terminology; so that the age
determinations were roughly relative merely, and there was no means of
fixing the absolute age of maturity, of puberty, of marriage, or of the
assumption of manhood and womanhood howsoever defined.
Under the conditions, the determination of stature-range in the Seri
rancheria at Costa Rica in 1894 was not only difficult but uncertain;
yet in general terms it may be said that the women having two or more
children—about twenty in number—were notably uniform in stature,
ranging from about 5 feet 7½ inches (in the case of an aged and
shrunken elderwoman) to 5 feet 11 inches; that the younger women were
more variable; and that the warriors (seventeen in number), of whom
only a part were apparently heads of families, were more variable
still, though the variation, apart from that apparently correlated with
age, was less than is customarily found among the exceptionally uniform
Papago, and decidedly less than that seen among the Yaqui or the local
Mexicans.
The Seri skin-tint is of the usual Amerindian bronze, save that
it is exceptionally dark, with a decided tone of black. Essayed
representations of the characteristic color appear in plates XVIII and
XXIV; but the essays are little more satisfactory than the innumerable
attempts at depicting the skin-color of the American aborigines that
have gone before. Experienced observers of the native tribes may form
an impression of the Seri color from the explanation that they are as
much darker than the neighboring Papago as the Papago are darker than
the average tribesmen about the Great lakes; the Papago themselves
being as much darker than the southern plains or Pueblo folk as these
are darker than those of the Lake region. The range in color seems to
be slight; the variation among the 60 individuals of both sexes and all
ages seen at Costa Rica was hardly perceptible, being less than that
usually observed in a single family of any neighboring tribe; while
the color distinction alone sufficed to distinguish the Seri from any
other people at a glance.
* * * * *
Foremost among the general somatic distinctions between the Caucasian
and the American native is the peripheral development of the former,
displayed in better-muscled limbs, more expressive features,
etc.—i. e., the Caucasian body expresses a readily perceptible but
difficultly describable peripheralization, in contradistinction
from the centralization displayed by the aboriginal body. Save in a
single particular (the large feet and hands), the Seri exemplify this
distinction in remarkable degree: their chests are strikingly broad,
deep, and long, recalling the thoroughbred racer or greyhound; their
waists are shortened by the chest development, yet are rather slender;
their hips are broad and deep, with a clean-cut yet massive gluteal
development; and, in comparison with the robust yet compact bodies, the
tapering arms and legs seem incongruously slender.[241] This physical
characteristic, like that of color, is insusceptible of quantitative
expression, at least without much more refined observations than have
been made; but its value may be indicated roughly by the statement
that the Seri differs from the average aboriginal American in degree
of somatic concentration as much as the average aborigine differs from
the average Caucasian—though it is noteworthy that the departure in
this direction from the aboriginal mean is in some measure regional
(i. e., the Seri differ less in this respect from the Papago and
other swift-footed natives than from the average tribesmen of the
continent). The Seri robustness of body and slenderness of limb are
brought out by the absence (in appearance at least) of adipose; the
skin is strikingly firm and hard and evidently thick, yet the play of
muscle and tendon beneath indicate a dearth of connective tissue and
convey that impression of physical vigor which their familiars so miss
in the photographs; and in no case, save perhaps in the young babe,
could the slightest trace of obesity be discerned. Thus the Seri, male
and female, young and old, may be described as notably deep-chested and
clean-limbed quick-steppers, or as human thoroughbreds.
[241] The photo-mechanical reproductions do but meager justice to
the splendid chest development of the Seri, young and old; for they
were not only at semisomnolent rest during the hotter hours at which
photography was most feasible, but invariably quailed before the
mysterious apparatus and crouched shrinkingly in such wise as to
contract their chests and lose their habitually erect and expansive
carriage.
The somatic symmetry of the average Seri, marred somewhat by the
slenderness of limb, is still more marred by the large extremities.
The hand is broad and long, the fingers are relatively long as those
of the Caucasian, the nails are peculiarly thick and strong, and
the skin is so thick and calloused as to give a clumsy look to the
entire organ; the feet are still larger and thicker-skinned, appearing
disproportionately long and broad for even the heroic stature of
the tallest warriors. The integument covering the feet, ankles, and
lower legs is incredibly firm and hard, more resembling that of horse
or camel than the ordinary human type; its astounding protective
efficiency being attested by the readiness with which the Seri run
through cactus thickets so thorny as to stop horses and dogs, or over
conglomerated spall-beds so sharp that even the light coyote leaves
their trail. In the absence of measurements it may merely be noted
that the hands and feet of the Seri are materially larger, not only
absolutely but relatively to their stature, than those of neighboring
tribesmen or even of Mexican and American workmen. And, on the whole,
it may be said that in their proportions, as in their stature and
color, the Seri are strikingly uniform, their range being less than
that commonly observed in contemporary tribes, and the differences
between them and their neighbors much exceeding the range among
themselves.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XIV
SERI FAMILY GROUP]
Somatically distinctive as is the Seri at rest, he (or she) is much
more so in motion—though the characteristics so readily caught by the
eye are not easily analyzed and described. Perhaps the most conspicuous
element in their walk is a peculiarly quick knee movement, bringing the
foot upward and forward at the end of the stride; this merges into an
equally quick thrust of the foot forward and downward, with toe well
advanced, toward the beginning of the next stride; and these motions
combine to produce a singular erectness and steadiness of carriage, the
body moving in a nearly direct line with a minimum of lateral swaying
or vertical oscillation, while the legs neither drag nor swing, but
spurn the ground in successive strokes. Thus the walk seems notably
easy and graceful, while the walker carries an air of alertness and
reserve power, as if able to stop short at any point of a pace or to
bolt forward or backward or sidewise with equal facility; he simulates
the “collected” animal whose feet tap the ground lightly and swiftly
while his body appears to yield freely to voluntary impulse. In this
deer-like or antelope-like movement all the Seri are much alike, and
all are decidedly removed from their neighbors, even the light-footed
Papago. The component motions are most conspicuous in leisurely
walking, though the resultant movement is more striking in rapid walk
or the incredibly swift run of youths and adults. The general movement
is akin to that shaped by the habit of carrying burdens balanced
on the head, as the Seri women actually carry their water ollas
for astonishing distances; but the carriage is shared—indeed, best
displayed—by the warriors and growing boys, who are not known to carry
water in this way.
Among the conspicuous but nondistinctive somatic characters of the Seri
is luxuriant straight hair, habitually worn long and loose. Commonly
the hair is jet-black for most of the length, growing tawny toward the
tips; sometimes it is black throughout, while again the tawny tinge,
or perhaps a bleached appearance, extends well toward the scalp.
Age-grayness seems not to be characteristic; the most aged matrons
known have no more than a few inconspicuous and scattered gray hairs,
though the pelage of some is slightly bleached or faded. None of the
warriors at Costa Rica showed the slightest grayness except Mashém
(aged about 50 years), who had a few gray strands about the temples;
but it maybe significant that the hair of the tribal outlaw Kolusio,
who has lived with white men for full three score years, is iron-gray.
Kolusio’s pelage is trimmed in Caucasian fashion; that of Mashém is
cut off mid-length in a manner exciting comment, if not derision, on
the part of his fellows and others, and resulting in his (Spanish)
sobriquet, Pelado (literally, Peeled, or idiomatically, Shorn); but
with few exceptions the hair is kept long as it can be made to grow,
and receives careful attention, to this end. Naturally the length
is somewhat variable; in many cases it depends to or slightly below
the waist, while in other cases it merely sweeps the shoulders; and
in general it appears to increase in both length and luxuriance not
only throughout adolescence, but up to late maturity, for the best
pelages are presented by moderately aged persons, while none of the
youths are so luxuriantly tressed as their elders. Not the slightest
trace of baldness appears. The infantile pelage is short, brownish in
color, soft or even silky, and inclined to curl toward the tips. It is
not until the age of several months that the hair begins to acquire
the adult character, and at least some children retain traces of the
infantile pilary character up to 5 or even 10 years; and none of the
children display such jet-black shock-heads as are frequently found
among other tribes, whose adult pelage may nevertheless be much less
luxuriant than that of the Seri. On the whole, it may be said that the
Seri hair is luxuriant and vigorous beyond the aboriginal average, and
that it, like various other somatic features, indicates a relatively
late maturation in the life-history of the individual.
Both sexes are beardless. The female faces seen were entirely free of
strong pilary growth; one or two of the warrior faces showed scattering
hairs, and Mashém sported a feeble and downy but jet-black mustache
with an exceptional number of scattered hairs about the chin; while
Kolusio shaved regularly, and might, apparently, have grown moderately
stiff but straggling mustaches and beard. Axillary hair seems to be
wanting; pubic hair is said to be scanty; otherwise the bodies are
practically hairless (more nearly so than those of average Caucasians).
The teeth are solid, close-set, and even, and impress the observer as
large; they close with the upper incisors projecting slightly beyond
the lower denture in the usual manner.
* * * * *
The skeletal characteristics of the Seri are known only from a single
specimen obtained in the course of the 1895 expedition in such
manner as to establish the identification beyond shadow of question.
This skeleton was submitted to Dr Aleš Hrdlička for measurement and
discussion.[242]
[242] A separate cranium was obtained by the 1895 expedition, having
been sought and picked up by a Mexican member of the party in
verification of his account of the killing of one of the Seri; but, in
view of the possibility of erroneous identification, this skull was not
submitted in connection with the complete skeleton. Subsequently this
specimen also was put in Dr Hrdlička’s hands (at his request), and was
kindly examined, with, the results recorded in the following letter:
MARCH 29, 1900.
Professor W J MCGEE,
_Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C._
DEAR SIR: The skull which you submitted to me for examination shows the
following:
The skull is that of a male between 40 and 50 years of age. The facial
parts and a portion of the left temporal bone are wanting; otherwise
the specimen shows nothing pathologic. There are signs that the skull
belonged to a very muscular individual. The occipital depressions,
ridges, and protuberance are very marked, and the temporal ridges
approach to within 1.7 cm. on the left and 2.3 cm. on the right of the
sagittal suture. The whole skull is rather heavy and massive; thickness
of parietal bones 4-8 mm.
The shape of the skull is unusual. The frontal region is rather broad
(frontal diameter, minimum, 9.7; frontal diameter, maximum, 12.1 cm.),
but quite flat and sloping. Frontal ridges wanting (broken away).
The sagittal region is elevated into a crest which begins 4cm.
posteriorly from the bregma, is most marked at the vertex, and proceeds
in two tapering diverging crura to the lambdoid suture. The whole
vertex region is considerably elevated and forms a blunt cone, which is
particularly noticeable when the skull is viewed from the side.
The temporo-parietal regions are moderately convex and expanded
anteriorly, but become flattened and gradually narrow toward the
parietal bosses. The parietal bones measure each 11 cm. along the
coronal, but only 8.8 cm. along the lambdoid suture. The gradual
tapering of the parietal regions from their middle backward continues
on the occipital bone up to the inion, and gives the norma verticalis
of the skull a peculiar appearance.
The occipital region, as a whole, does not protrude much, as in true
dolichocephals, but it shows a prominent broad crest, formed by the two
superior semicircular lines and the region between them. The extreme
occipital protuberance is pronounced and shows signs of strong muscular
attachments. A small distance above the foramen magnum, on each side
of the median line, is a very marked depression, surmounted by a dull
ridge.
Of the mastoids, the right has been broken off and the left is damaged,
but they do not seem to have been of extraordinary size.
The base of the skull is fairly well preserved and shows the following
characters: The basilar process and the petrous portions of the
temporal bones are more massive than usual. The glenoid fossæ are broad
and of fair depth. The styloids are quite diminutive (right 0.7, left
0.5 cm. long). The foramen magnum is hexagonal in outline; it is 4.4
cm. long, 3.4 cm. wide; its plane is inclined backwards in such a way
that its antero-posterior diameter prolonged would touch about the
lower borders of the nasal aperture.
The cranial cavity can be well inspected through the opening caused
by injury. The internal surface of the frontal bone shows but very
few traces of brain impressions. There are several large impressions
on each parietal bone, and deep, though rather small, fossæ for the
extremities of the occipital lobes on the occipital bone. The superior
border of the dorsum sellæ shows in the middle a rounded notch about 3
mm. deep.
The serration of the sutures is throughout very simple.
_Measures_—The glabello-occipital length and maximum width of the
skull can not be accurately determined on account of injuries to
the bones. They amount, respectively, to about 18.8 and 14 cm.,
giving the cephalic index of about 74.4 (moderate dolichocephaly).
The basion-bregma height is 14.1 cm.; basion-vertex, 14.8 cm.;
basion-obelion, 13.0 cm.; basion-lambda, 12.2 cm. The two more anterior
of these measures characterize the skull as a rather high one. The two
more posterior measures show the rapid downward slope of the posterior
half of the sagittal region. The maximum circumference of the skull
(above the ridges) is 52 cm.
The bregma-lambda arc measures 13.3, the lambda-opisthion arc 12.2 cm.
Diameter between the asterions=10.7 cm.
If the skull under examination is considered from a purely evolutionary
standpoint, it must be pronounced to be in many points inferior to
the average white and even to the majority of Indian crania. An
anthropological identification of the specimen is difficult, for
the reason that we are still very imperfectly acquainted with the
craniology of the peoples of southwestern United States and northern
Mexico. From what we know of the crania of the Pima, and the extinct
Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, etc., Californians, it is possible to
say that the individual whose skull is here reported upon may have
belonged to a people physically related to either of these groups. The
skull is very distinct from that of an Apache. The female Seri cranium
examined by me before does not show certain of the peculiarities of
this specimen; nevertheless it is very possible that both crania
belonged to individuals of the same tribe.
ALEŠ HRDLIČKA.
In making his examination, Dr Hrdlička compared the unquestionably
authentic cranium of the entire skeleton with two skulls preserved in
the American Museum of Natural History, viz., No. 99/84, designated as
a skull of a Tiburon mound-builder, and No. 99/85, labeled as having
been found in a shell mound at Tiburon, California; but, in view of the
possible error in identification in these cases, the comparisons are
omitted. Otherwise, Dr Hrdlička’s determinations are as recorded in the
following report (and his drawings of the anterior and left lateral
aspects of the cranium are reproduced in figure 6):
[Illustration: FIG. 6—Anterior and left lateral aspects of Seri
cranium.]
REPORT ON AN EXAMINATION OF A SKELETON FROM SERILAND
[By Dr Aleš Hrdlička, Associate in Anthropology, Pathological
Institute, New York]
_The Skeleton_
All the bones of the skeleton are present, except the sternum, the
coccyx, a few of the teeth, and a few of the small bones of the
extremities.
It is a skeleton of a young adult, between 20 and 24 years of age,
female. The age of the subject is indicated mainly by the unattached
epiphyses of the long and some of the short bones, those epiphyses,
namely, which are the last to coossify. The femininity of the subject
is indicated by the generally slightly marked ridges, etc., of muscular
attachment, and by the decidedly feminine character of the pelvis
(light, well-spread ilia, broad subpubic arch) and of the skull (lack
of supraorbital ridges, thin dental arches, small mastoids, etc.).
There are no wounds or pathological conditions noticeable on the
skeleton. Several peculiarities and anomalies are observable. They will
be described with the parts they concern.
The measurements to follow are expressed in centimeters. The French
anthropometric methods and nomenclature have been adopted.
_The Skull_
The skull is of fair size, and is symmetrical throughout, with the
exception of a slight irregularity in the occipital region. All the
sutures, with the exception of the basilar, open; nerve foramina all
large; serrations rather simple; no intercalate bones of any kind.
_Norma frontalis_—Visage symmetrical. Forehead well arched, medium
height. Supraorbital ridges almost absent; glabella convex.
Nasion depression medium. Orbits obliquely quadrilateral; their axes
(internal inferior corner—internal superior corner) meet at ophryon.
Spheno-maxillary fissure, lachrymal canal, and nerve foramina all above
average in size. Nasal bones well bridged, very slightly concave; nasal
aperture regular; no “gouttières”; turbinated bones well formed; septum
wanting; spine 0.65 long, bifid at the end. Zygomæ of medium size and
strength. Superior maxilla of medium size, well formed. Dental arches
regular; no prognathism. Bone of lower jaw moderately strong; does not
protrude anteriorly; conformation normal.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XV
SERI MOTHER AND CHILD]
_Norma basalis_—Contour almost round. Whole base symmetrical,
except as noted below; the middle structures appear shortened
antero-posteriorly, slightly more on the left than on the right;
basilo-vomeric angle rather acute (100°); foramina of the base all
spacious; the petrobasilar suture is large (average diameter, 5 mm.)
and is throughout pervious. Superior dental arch regular and of medium
thickness. Dentition incomplete—right upper wisdom tooth not fully
erupted; left lower wisdom tooth wanting entirely. Denture fine and
regular; no teeth decayed. Both upper first incisors absent.[243] Teeth
set regularly in socket and of medium size. Palatine arch symmetrical.
Shape of palate normal. Posterior nasal foramina oblong. Styloids
small, shell-like, flattened.
[243] Both these incisors were apparently lost at the same time,
not from general lesion, and some years previous to the death of
the individual, as the sockets appear exactly alike, bear no signs
of violence, and are almost filled up with cancellous tissue (some
religious or social rite?).
_Norma occipitalis_—The posterior part of the skull is somewhat
flattened. The sides of the surface present a pentagonal outline with
rounded corners, the apex corresponding to the sagittal suture, or
obelion. There is a slight asymmetry, the right side being somewhat
flattened. Exterior occipital protuberance not well marked.
_Norma verticalis_—Outline an irregular ovoid, wider posteriorly
and more prominent on the left and posteriorly. Slight symmetrical
depression of the parietals, beginning about 1 cm. and ending 5 or 6
cm. behind the coronal suture and extending laterally from the sagittal
suture to the upper temporal ridge.
_Norma lateralis_—Outline ovoid, larger posteriorly. Pterions en H,
of medium breadth. Temporal ridges not very distinct. Parietal bosses
prominent.
cc.
Skull capacity, Broca’s method 1,545
Skull capacity, Flower’s method 1,490
Antero-posterior diameter, maximum 16.3
Lateral diameter, maximum 14.4
Cephalic index, 88.3=Brachycephalic.[244]
Chin-bregma 21.2
Chin-ophryon 13.2
Alveolar point-ophryon 8.6
Bizygomatic breadth, maximum 13.0
Facial index 98.5
Superior facial index (Broca’s), 66.1=Mesoseme.
Height of nose aperture 5.4
Breadth of nose aperture 2.65
Nasal index, 49.0=Mesorhine.
Mean height of orbits 3.80
Mean breadth of orbits 3.95
Orbital index, 96.2=Megaseme. cc.
Mean depth of orbits 4.6
Dacryon to dacryon 2.3
Frontal diameter, minimum 9.2
Frontal diameter, maximum (interstephanic) 11.4
Biauricular diameter[245] 12.3
Diameter through parietal bosses 14.3
Bimastoid diameter 10.55
Distance from superior alveolar arch to inferior
occipital ridge 14.35
Distance between supramastoid eminences 13.9
Length of basilar process (notch of vomer to basion) 2.95
Basion-bregma height 13.45
Basion-obelion height ? (obelion indistinct.)
Basion-ophryon 14.0
Basion-inion 8.1
Circumference, maximum 49.4
Nasion-ophryon arc 1.8
Nasion-bregma arc 12.3
Nasion-inion arc 30.0
Nasion-opisthion arc 35.5
Pterion-bregma arc 11.2
Arc external meatuses, over forehead 29.2
Arc external meatuses, over frontal bosses 30.4
Arc external meatuses, over bregma 34.0
Arc external meatuses, maximum 35.7
Arc external meatuses, over inion 23.6
Temporal ridges to sagittal suture (stephanions-bregma),
(arc) mean 7.5
Lateral diameter of foramen magnum, maximum 2.75
Antero-posterior diameter of foramen magnum, maximum 3.60
Index of foramen magnum 76.4
Length of hard palate, maximum 4.6
Height of hard palate at first molars 1.55
Breadth of hard palate at first bicuspids 2.9
Breadth of hard palate at first molars 3.55
Breadth of hard palate at third molars 4.1
Height of posterior nares 3.1
Breadth of posterior nares 2.55
Index of posterior nares 82.2
Angle of mandibles 114°
Length of mandibular rami 9.55
Bigoniac diameter of mandibles 9.85
[244] If allowance is made for the effects of flattening of the
occipital on the long diameter, and hence on the index, of a skull, it
becomes apparent that the true index of this skull is probably of a low
brachycephalic, or, at most, of mesocephalic order. It is very doubtful
if the deformity is intentional; its moderate extent and the total lack
of signs of counter-compression would indicate with more probability
that the deformity might have been produced by the individual lying,
when an infant, by compulsion or habit, on something hard, probably a
board.
[245] The “biauricular” signifies the distance between points of the
skull immediately above the commencement of the superior zygomatic
border on the temporal.
_The Vertebral Column_
_Cervical vertebræ_—Number complete; characters normal. All cervical
spinous processes bifid; vertebra prominens well defined. All epiphyses
absent.
cc.
Transverse diameter of third cervical vertebra (between
posterior tubercles of the pedicles), maximum 5.05
Antero-posterior diameter of third cervical vertebra
(body-spinous process), maximum 4.20
Greatest lateral diameter of foramen, same vertebra 2.15
Greatest antero-posterior diameter of foramen, same
vertebra 1.45
Height of body in center, same vertebra .90
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XVI
GROUP OF SERI BOYS]
_Dorsal vertebræ_—Number complete; characters absolutely normal.
Resemblance to lumbar processes begins with tenth dorsal vertebra; a
number of the epiphyses of the various processes either imperfectly
united or detached; body epiphyses absent.
cc.
Antero-posterior diameter of body of sixth dorsal vertebra,
maximum 2.55
Lateral diameter of body of sixth dorsal vertebra, maximum 2.90
Height of body in center 1.67
Separation of transverse processes 5.63
Edge of upper articular processes-tip of spinous processes 5.50
Breadth of foramen, maximum 1.60
Length of foramen, maximum 1.50
_Lumbar vertebræ_—Number complete; characters absolutely normal. Only
disk epiphyses detached.
cc.
Antero-posterior diameter of body, maximum 3.12
Antero-posterior diameter of whole vertebræ, maximum 7.10
Lateral diameter of body, maximum 4.55
Lateral diameter of transverse processes, maximum 7.10
Height of articular processes, maximum 4.33
Height of body in center, maximum 2.20
Antero-posterior diameter of canal, maximum 1.50
Lateral diameter of canal, maximum 2.10
_The Sacrum_
Aspect normal with the following exception: There are distinct
intervertebral disks between the different segments (5 segments);
there are deep lateral incisures in places where the lateral processes
unite, and the fourth and fifth segments are entirely separated (in one
piece) from the upper three (four small spots of coossification along
the posterior border of the articulation are visible). The articular
processes of the first and second sacral segments are similar in form
to the lumbar, and form open articulations. There is a large foramen
situated below the spinous processes of the first and third segment,
and a smaller beneath the second. Coccyx absent. Curvature medium.
cc.
Breadth of the sacrum, maximum 10.5
Height of the sacrum, maximum 11.2
Index of the sacrum 93.7
_The Thoracic Cage_
Aspect of ribs normal. Strength medium. Sternum absent.
Length second right rib (arc) 21.8
Long diameter second right rib 12.5
Maximum height of the curve 7.2
Length ninth right rib (arc) 28.8
Long diameter ninth right rib 18.7
Maximum height of curve 8.45
_Bones of the Upper Limbs_
_Clavicles_—Form normal, slender; epiphyses united. Length, maximum,
13.5. Muscular attachments of slight prominence.
_Scapulæ_—Form normal, spine directed somewhat more upward than is
usual; whole bone light and slender; acromial epiphyses absent.
Height (middle of glenoid fossa-tip of inferior angle) 12.0
Breadth (middle of glenoid point, maximum) 8.7
_Humeri_—Form normal; bone slender; head-epiphyses not united; left
head perforated by large oval foramen from coronoid to olecranon fossa
(8 mm. by 4½ mm.)
Length of left humerus (with epiphysis) 31.3
Length of right humerus (with epiphysis) 31.0
_Ulnæ and radii_—Form normal; bones slender; lower epiphyses ununited.
Length of left radius (head and end of styloid) 24.1
Length of left ulna (olecranon-styloid) 25.8
_Metacarpus, carpus, and phalanges_—Nothing special.
_Bones of the Pelvis and Lower Limbs_
All the bones of the pelvis and lower limbs of normal shape and medium
size. Pelvis apparently that of a female (subpubic angle 100°). Bones
well united, all traces of the union in acetabulum effaced. Epiphyses
ununited except on the ischiatic protuberances, where bony union just
begins. Above the fossa acetabuli (8 mm. postero-superiorly from the
uppermost edge of the fossa) there is in both acetabula an irregularly
triangular depression of about 2 water-drops capacity (accessory
tendon?).
Anterior to posterior-superior spine 13.7
Point of pubis to posterior-superior spine 15.8
Point of pubis to anterior-superior spine 12.7
Point of pubis to point of ischium 10.8
Biiliac diameter of whole bony pelvis (between internal
iliac borders), maximum 21.0
Height of coxal bones (tuberosity of ischium to iliac
border in this case without its epiphyses), maximum 19.4
Antero-posterior diameter of superior strait 11.8
Lateral diameter of superior strait 11.4
Oblique diameter of superior strait 11.3
Height of subject (determined after Manouvrier’s method) about 1.620 m.
(above the general average).
_Femurs_—Lower epiphyses ununited. Muscular attachments, including
linea aspera, but little prominent.
Length of femurs (both condyles applied to base) 43.6
Inclination of neck to shaft 130°
_Tibiæ_—Both platycnemic. All the epiphyses ununited, especially the
upper.
Antero-posterior diameter at center, maximum 2.5
Lateral diameter at center, maximum 1.62
Length (articular surface-tip of styloid) 35.6
Femoro-tibial index {length of tibia × 100}=82.0
{length of femora }
This index is 81 in the European, 83 in the negro, and 86 in the
Bushman.[246]
[246] Quain, Anatomy, 1893: Osteology, p. 127.
_Fibulæ_—Length, 35.2. Epiphyses not yet united, particularly the upper.
_Tarsal, metatarsal, and phalangial bones_—Nothing special.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XVII
MASHEM, SERI INTERPRETER]
_Resumé of the Peculiarities of the Skeleton_
The nerve and blood-vessel foramina are generally large. This character
and the platycnemic tibiæ indicate an ample musculature of the subject.
The height is above the general average for a woman, which, according
to Topinard, is 1.53.
The petro-basilar fissures are large and visibly pervious. This
condition is found occasionally; significance doubtful; it is more
frequent in young subjects.
_Platycnemic tibiæ_—This is considered a simian character.[247] It
was found first by Broca in 1868[248] on bones from Eyzies; it is
associated with relative strength of the muscles of the leg; is very
frequent among the characters found on bones from the epoch of polished
stone in Europe.[249] J. Wyman found this character more accentuated
than at Cro-Magnon or at Gibraltar on a third of the tibias from the
mounds of the United States.[249]
[247] Hovelacque et Hervé, Précis d’Anthropologie, 1887, pp. 112, 2937.
[248] Bulletin de la Société d’Anthropologie, 1868.
[249] Hovelacque et Hervé, op. cit., p. 113.
_Perforated humerus_—Noticed first by Desmoulins, 1826, on the humeri
of Guanches and Hottentots;[250] occurs with greatest frequency in the
following peoples:[251]
[250] Histoire Naturelle des Races Humaines, 1826, p. 304.
[251] Hovelacque et Hervé, op. cit., p. 291.
Per cent.
156 neolithic humeri from around Paris 21.8
97 humeri of African negroes 21.7
122 humeri of Guanches 25.6
80 humeri from the mounds of United States (J. Wyman) 31.2
32 humeri of Polynesians 34.3
30 humeri of altaic and American races 36.2
Summarily, Dr Hrdlička’s special determinations conform with
the external observations on the Seri body; they indicate an
exceptionally large stature, together with a notably well-developed
and well-proportioned osseous framework, of the native American type,
yet significantly approaching the Caucasian in several respects. It is
especially noteworthy that the cranium is well formed and capacious,
the precise measurements corroborating the external observation that
the Seri head is of good absolute size, though relatively smaller
(in comparison with height and weight) than that of some neighboring
tribes of less stature—e. g., the Papago. It may be noted, too, that
the imperfect ankylosis of the epiphyses, and various other skeletal
features, are in accord with the inferences from the living body as to
the slowness of attaining maturity. It may be noted further that the
extraordinary development of the muscular attachments, especially in
the masculine cranium, is quite in harmony with the habits of the tribe.
* * * * *
The remaining somatic characteristics of the Seri are for the greater
part of such sort as to be described by generalities and negatives.
In general they correspond with those of typical American tribesmen
and other peoples; and they do not exhibit striking peculiarities
in proportion or structure. In the opposability of the thumb, the
nonopposability of the hallux, and the independence of fingers and
toes, the Seri hands and feet are developed quite up to, if not
somewhat beyond, the Amerindian[252] average; the feet are set
straight in walking, as befits the pedestrian habit; the arms are
not elongated, and the thighs seem no longer in proportion to other
elements of the stature than are those of the highest human types. In
like manner the bodies are notably free from artificial deformation;
the skulls are not flattened or otherwise distorted; there is no
scarification, or even tattooing; neither ears nor lips are pierced
for pendants or labrets; the teeth are not filed or drilled, though
in some cases at least the first incisors of females are extracted;
and while there are trustworthy records of the piercing of the nasal
septum for the insertion of pendants, no examples were found at Costa
Rica in 1894. The food habits and other customs of the tribe indicate,
or at least suggest, more or less specialized and perhaps distinctive
internal characters; but, without actual examination of the organs,
these inferred characters demand little more than passing notice.
[252] The term _Amerind_ (with the self-explanatory mutations
_Amerindian, Amerindize,_ etc.) has been established by the
Anthropological Society of Washington as a convenient collective
designation for the aboriginal American tribes (American
Anthropologist, new series, 1, 1899, p. 582).
* * * * *
On reviewing the more prominent somatic characters of the Seri, it is
found that the greater number are either functional or presumptively
correlated with function, and that only a few—chiefly stature and
color—are simply structural; accordingly a comparison of the peculiar
somatic features and the peculiar individual habits of the tribe would
seem to be instructive in more than ordinary degree.
The most striking trait of the Seri is the pedestrian habit. The
warriors and women and children alike are habitual rovers; their
jacales and even their largest rancherias are only temporary domiciles,
evidently vacant oftener than occupied; the principal rancherias are
separated by a hard day’s journey or more; and none of the known
rancherias or jacales of more persistent use are nearer than 4 to 10
miles from the fresh water by which their occupants are supplied.
Probably the most persistently occupied rancherias of the last half
century have been those located from time to time near Costa Rica,
yet even these were seldom occupied by the same group for more than
a fortnight or possibly a month, and were often vacated within a day
or two after erection. Still more temporary camps intervene between
jacales, and their sites may be seen in numbers in the neighborhood
of the better-beaten paths, or along the shores, or even over the
trackless spall-strewn plains; they may be merely trampled spots,
sparsely strewn with oyster shells and large bones gnawed at the ends,
usually in the lea of a shrub or rock; in places of small shrubbery
or exceptionally abundant grass there may be two or three or perhaps
half a dozen “forms” (suggesting the temporary resting places of
rabbits), in which robust bodies nestled and shrugged themselves into
the warm earth and under the meager vegetation. Rarely there are
ashes and cinders hard by, to mark the site of a tiny fire, and more
frequently battered and stained or greasy bowlders record their own
use as meat-blocks or metates, though it is manifest that most of the
camps were fireless and many foodless. It is particularly noteworthy
that even the more temporary resting-places are seldom if ever less
than a mile or two from the nearest fresh water. In short, the Seri
are not a domiciliary folk, but rather homeless wanderers, customarily
roving from place to place, frequently if not commonly sleeping where
overtaken by exhaustion or storm, ordinarily slumbering through a part
of the day and watching by night, habitually avoiding fresh waters
save in hurried and stealthy visits, and apparently gathering in their
flimsy huts only on special occasions.
In conformity with their rovingness the Seri are notable
burden-bearers. They habitually carry their entire stock of personal
belongings (arms, implements, utensils, and bedding), as well as their
stock of food and—weightiest burden of all—the water requisite for
prolonged sustenance amid scorching deserts, in all their wanderings,
the water being borne chiefly by women, in ollas, either balanced on
the head singly or slung in pairs on rude yokes like those of Chinese
coolies. And they have never grasped the idea of imposing their burdens
on their bestial associates; their coyote-curs are not harnessed or
even led; when they surround and capture horses, burros, and kine
they make no use of ropes, never think of mounting even when pursued
by vaqueros, but immediately break the necks or club out the brains
of the beasts, perchance to tear the writhing body into quarters and
flee for their lives with the reeking flesh still quivering on their
sturdy heads and brawny shoulders—and scores of vaqueros agree in the
affirmation (wholly incredible as it would be if supported by fewer
witnesses) that even when so burdened the Seri skim the sand wastes of
Desierto Encinas more rapidly than avenging horsemen can follow.
* * * * *
The hardly conceivable fleetness of the Seri is conformable with
their habitual rovingness and their ability as burden-bearers; and
this faculty is established by cumulative evidence so voluminous
and consistent as to outweigh the presumption arising from the
standards attained among other peoples. A few minutes after they were
photographed, the group of boys shown in plate XVI, with several others
of about the same size, provided themselves with a stock of their
favorite human-hair cords, “rounded up” a dozen mongrel coyote-dogs
haunting the rancheria at Costa Rica, and herded the unwilling animals
toward a shrubbery-free space a quarter of a mile away, in order to
rope them in imitation of the work of the Mexican cowboys earlier in
the morning. From time to time as they went a frightened cur sneaked
or broke through the cordon of boys, and made for distant shrub-tufts
at top speed; yet in every case a boy darted from the ring, headed
off the animal within one or two hundred yards, and lashed it back
to its place. On arriving at their miniature rodeo the boys widened
their ring, and at a signal scattered and frightened the dogs; then,
when the fleeing animals had a fair start, each selected his victim
and followed it, yelling and swinging his light lasso, until, after
much doubling and dodging and many unsuccessful casts, he caught and
dragged the howling beast back to the open; and it was only after half
a dozen repetitions that enough dogs had escaped to spoil the sport. As
the boys lounged chattering back toward the rancheria their course lay
between two clumps of the usual desert shrubbery, so placed that when
the first was obliquely left and 40 or 50 feet distant from them, the
other was obliquely right and 100 feet away. At this point a bevy of
small birds (perhaps blackbirds—at any rate corresponding to blackbirds
in size and flight) fluttered suddenly out of the nearer clump toward
the more distant one, when, too instantaneously for the untrained
eye to catch exchange of signal or beginning of movement, the boys
lunged forward in a common effort to seize the birds; and though none
were entirely successful, one exultantly displayed a tuft of feathers
clutched by his fingers as the bird darted into and through the thorny
harbor. When the distances were paced it was found that, although the
birds had the advantage of the start, the boys covered at least 90 per
cent of their distance in the same time; while the spontaneity of the
impulse demonstrated habitual chase of flying game under fit conditions.
While obtaining the Seri vocabulary with Mashém’s aid, advantage was
taken of every opportunity to secure collateral information concerning
the actual use of the terms, and thereby of gaining insight into the
tribal habits. Through his naive explanations, usually repeated and
corroborated by the elderwoman of the Turtle clan (Juana Maria) and
others of the tribe, it was learned that half-grown Seri boys are fond
of hunting hares (jack-rabbits); that they usually go out for this
purpose in threes or fours; that when a hare is started they scatter,
one following it slowly while the others set off obliquely in such
manner as to head it off and keep it in a zigzag or doubling course
until it tires; and that they then close in and take the animal in
their hands, frequently bringing it in alive to show that it was fairly
caught—for it is deemed discreditable, if not actually wrong, to take
game animals without giving them opportunity for escape or defense by
exercise of their natural powers. Similarly, Mashém described the chase
of the bura and other deer as ordinarily conducted by five persons (of
whom one or two may be youths), who scatter at sight of the quarry,
gradually surround it, bewilder it by confronting it at all points, and
finally close in either to seize it with their hands, or perhaps to
brain it with a stone or short club; the former being held the proper
way and the latter a partial failure. This hunting custom, described
as a commonplace by Mashém, is established by the vaqueros who had
frequently witnessed it from a distance; and the same extra-tribal
observers described still more striking feats of individual Seri
hunters: Don Manuel, son of Señor Encinas, and Don Ygnacio Lozania were
endeavoring to train to work a robust Seri (one of a band sojourning
temporarily at Costa Rica) noted for his prowess in hunting. One
hot afternoon he begged relief from his tasks, saying the spirit of
catching a deer had hold on him; and he was excused on condition that
the deer be brought entire to the rancho. Two hours later he was seen
driving in a full-grown buck; on approaching the rancho the terrified
animal turned this way and that, describing long arcs in wild efforts
to avoid the human habitation; yet the hunter kept beyond it, heading
it off at every turn and gradually working it nearer, until, at a
sudden turn, he was able to rush on it; whereupon he caught it, threw
it over his shoulders, and ran in to the rancho with the animal still
struggling and kicking off its overheated hoofs.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XVIII
“JUANA MARIA,” SERI ELDERWOMAN]
Señor Encinas himself, with Don Andrés Noriega and several other
attachés, vouch for the catching of a horse by a Seri hunter in still
more expeditious fashion: one of the horses belonging to the rancho
was exceptionally fat, and hence exceptionally tempting to the Seri
band (and at the same time worthless to the vaqueros); the chief
begged for it persistently until, wearied by his importunities, the
ranchero offered the horse to the band on condition that a single one
of them should catch it within a fixed distance (about 200 yards) from
the gateway of the corral—and the offer was promptly accepted. With
the view of making the test of fleetness fair, a vaquero was called
in to frighten the horse and start him running around the interior
of the corral, while a boy stood by to drop the bars at the proper
moment, the Indian standing ready outside the gateway; when the animal
had gained its best speed the bars were dropped and it bolted for
the open plains—but before the 200-yard limit was reached the hunter
had overtaken it, leaped on its withers, caught it by the jaw in one
hand and the foretop in the other, and thereby thrown it in such
manner as to break its neck. Knowing of these and other instances,
L. K. Thompson, of Hermosillo, undertook arrangements for publicly
exhibiting Seri runners as deer catchers at different expositions
during the nineties; but his arrangements failed, chiefly because of
the anticipated (and probably underestimated) difficulty of taming the
Seri sufficiently for the purpose.
About 1893, Señor Encinas and several attendants left Costa Rica one
morning for Hermosillo, leaving at the rancho, among others, a Seri
matron with a sick child nearly a year old; in the evening (as they
learned later) the child was worse, and the matron took the trail about
dusk, in the hope of finding a cure in the white man’s touch or other
medicine—and at dawn next morning she was at Molino del Encinas, 17
leagues (nearly 45 miles) away, with her helpless child and a peace
offering in the form of a hare, which she had run down and caught in
the course of the journey. And the matrons, with children astride their
hips and water-filled ollas balanced on their heads, and all their
goods and chattels piled on their backs, habitually traverse Desierto
Encinas from the sea to Costa Rica (some 30 miles), or from Costa Rica
to the sea, in a night.
Examples of Seri fleetness and endurance might be multiplied
indefinitely, and many of still more striking character might be
adduced; but these instances, all attested by several witnesses,
all corroborated by independent facts, and all consistent with the
observations of the 1894 expedition, seem fairly to represent one
aspect of the pedestrian habit of the tribe.
* * * * *
A trait of the Seri hardly less conspicuous than their pedestrian
habit is habitual use of hands and teeth in lieu of the implements
characteristic of even the lowly culture found among most primitive
tribes. Perhaps the most nearly universal implement is the knife—at
first of shell, tooth, bone, or wood, later of stone, and last of
metal—and hardly a primitive tribe known from direct observation
or from relics has been found independent of this most serviceable
implement; yet the Seri may be described with reasonable accuracy as
a knifeless folk. Awls and marlinspikes of bone and wood, shell cups,
and protolithic mullers or hammers are found in numbers in their hands,
on their rancheria sites, and in their ancient shell accumulations,
while rudely chipped stone arrowpoints are sparsely scattered over
their range; yet not a single knife of stone or other wrought substance
has been found in their territory or in their possession, save for an
occasional metal knife obtained by theft or barter. And the habit of
dispensing with this primary implement is attested both by everyday
customs and by the traditions and chronicles concerning the tribe.
Thus, various observers (notably Hardy) have recorded the features
and uses of balsas, harpoons, ollas, etc., yet no records of cutting
implements have been found; similarly the chronicles contain records of
barter between the Seri and the Sonorenses through which the savages
acquired aguardiente, manta, garments, sugar, grain, etc., yet no record
is known of the leading articles of exchange to practically all other
tribes of the continent, viz., cutlery; and in like manner the local
traditions recount the constant desire of the Seri for liquor and
tobacco, saccharine and other food substances, clothing or material for
making it, tin cups, lard-cans, and other metallic utensils, as well
as nails for harpoons and hoop-iron for arrowpoints, in addition to
firearms and ammunition; yet the recounters are significantly silent on
the subject of knives.
Conformably, the 60 Seri gathered near Costa Rica in 1894 made it
their business to pick up or beg all sorts of industrial products and
materials, yet apparently did not possess so many as a dozen knives in
the entire band; and while protolithic implements, ollas, shell cups,
paint-stones, etc., were seen in constant use, none of the men, women,
or children were observed to use knives for cutting meat or for any
other customary purpose. Among the supplies laid on top of the jacal
shown in plate X, to keep them out of the way of the dogs, was a hind
leg of a horse, from femur to hoof (some three days dead and still
ripening); most of the larger muscles were already gnawed away, leaving
loose ends of fiber and strings of tendon clinging to the bone, the
condition being such that the remaining flesh might easily have been
cut and scraped away by means of a knife; yet whenever a warrior or
woman or youth hungered he or she took down the heavy joint, squatted
or sat on the ground with back to one side of the doorway, held the
mass at the height of the mouth, and gnawed, sucked, and swallowed,
frequently tearing the tissue by twisting and backward jerks of the
head, and not only masticating, but swallowing the free ends of tendons
still attached to the bone. This process was varied only by seizing
with the hands and tearing off a strip of flesh or skin already
loosened by the teeth; and it was continued until the bones were
practically clean, when they were wrenched apart by the stronger men
in order that the cartilaginous cushions and epiphyses might be gnawed
away. The only approach to cooking or carving was a parboiling of the
foot, after the leg was wrenched off at the hock, until the hoof was
sufficiently softened to be knocked off with the protolithic hupf[253]
shown in plate XLIII, when half a dozen matrons and well-grown
maidens gathered about to gnaw the gelatinous tissue (already
softened by incipient decay as well as by the parboiling) investing
the coffin-bone. The entire procedure in this as in many other cases
proclaimed the absence of knife-sense. The Caucasian huntsman does
not have to think of his knife when game is to be bled or skinned or
dissected; his habit-trained hand knows where to find the implement,
how to seize it, and in most cases how to wield it advantageously;
but the Seri hand possesses no such cunning, and uses the knife only
clumsily and at second thought, if at all. The Seri huntsman, on the
other hand, does not have to think of nails and teeth, for they are
trained and coordinated by hereditary habit to spontaneously act
in unison and with the utmost possible or needful vigor; while the
Caucasian at least has completely lost the claw-and-teeth instinct of
offense and defense.
[253] Defined postea, p. 188.
Conformably with their striking independence of knives, the Seri are
conspicuously unskilful in all mechanical operations involving the
use of tools. Their most elaborate manufacture is the balsa, made
from reeds broken at the butts and with the leaves and tops removed
by the hands or by fire, bound together with hand-made cords; next in
elaborateness come the bow and arrow, normally made without cutting
tools; then follows their fictile ware, which is made wholly by hand,
without aid of the simple molds and paddles and other devices used by
neighboring tribes; while their primitive fabrics were apparently of
hand-extracted fibers, twisted and woven wholly by hand, with the aid
of wood or bone in sewing and possibly in weaving. Practically the
Seri possess but a single tool, and this is applied to a peculiarly
wide variety of purposes—it is the originally natural cobble used
for crushing bones and severing tendons, for grinding seeds and
rubbing face-paint, for bruising woody tissue to aid in breaking
okatilla poles for house-frames or mesquite roots for harpoons (both,
afterward finished by firing), and on occasion for weapons; and
this many-functioned tool is initially but a wave-worn pebble, is
artificially shaped only by the wear of use, and is incontinently
discarded when sharp edges are produced by use or fortuitous fracture.
The hupf is supplemented chiefly by the simple perforator of mandible
or bone or fire-hardened wood; and these two primitive implements,
together with molluscan shells in natural condition, apparently serve
as the primary tools for all the mechanical operations of the tribe.
The dearth of tools and the absence not only of knives but of
knife-sense among the Seri illumine those traditions of Seri fighting
made tangible by the teeth-torn arm of Jesus Omada; for they explain
the alleged recourse of the Seri warriors to nature’s weapons, used in
the centripetal fashion characteristic of nascent intelligence.
* * * * *
The Seri are distinguished by another trait hardly less striking than
the pedestrian habit, and even more conspicuous than the tooth-and-nail
habit with the correlative absence of tool-sense; the trait is not
tangible enough for ready definition or description in terms (of course
because so unusual as not to have bred words for its expression),
but is akin to—or, more properly, an exceeding intensification
of—race-pride in all its protean manifestations; it may be called
_race-sense_. Like other primitive folk, the Seri are self-centered
(or egocentric) in individual thought, i. e., they habitually think
of the extraneous phenomena of their little universe with reference
to self, as in the labyrinth of consanguineal relationship extending
and ramifying from the speaker; furthermore, they typify primitive
culture in their collective thinking, which is tribe-centered (or
ethnocentric), i. e., they view extraneous things, especially those of
animate nature, with reference to the tribe, like all those lowly folk
who denote themselves by the most dignified terms in their vocabulary
and designate aliens by opprobrious epithets; but the Seri outpass
most, if not all, other tribes in dignifying themselves and derogating
contemporary aliens. Concordantly with this habitual sentiment,
they glory in their strength and swiftness, and are inordinately
proud of their fine figures and excessively vain of their luxuriant
locks—indeed, they seem to exalt their own bodies and their own kind
well toward, if not beyond, the verge of inchoate deification. The
obverse of the same sentiment appears in the hereditary hate and horror
of aliens attested by their history, by their persistent blood-thirst,
and by the rigorous marriage regulations adapted to the maintenance
of tribal purity; for just as their highest virtue is the shedding of
alien blood, so is their blackest crime the transmission of their own
blood into alien channels. The potency of the sentiment is established
by the unparalleled isolation of the tribe after centuries of contact
with Caucasians, by their irreducible love of native soil, by their
implacable animosity toward invaders, and by their rigorously
maintained purity of blood; it is manifested in their commonplace
conduct by a singular combination of hauteur and servility, forbidding
association with aliens on terms of equality. The entire group at
Costa Rica in 1894 were on good behavior, partly, no doubt, for
profit, partly because they were at peace bought by bloodshed; yet
they kept an impassable gulf between themselves and the Caucasians,
and a still wider chasm against the Papago and Yaqui. They came to
the tanque, usually in groups, rarely alone, always alert; especially
when alone or in twos or threes, they moved slowly and stealthily in
their peculiar collected and up-stepping gait, often stopping, always
glancing furtively with roving eyes, and bearing a curious air of
self-repression—as of the camp-prowling coyote who seems to hold down
his instinctively bristling mane by voluntary effort. And the visitor
to their rancheria sent a wave of influence before as his approach was
noted; laughter ceased, languor disappeared, and a forced, yet sullen,
amiability took their place, though the children and females edged
away; if he appeared unexpectedly or came too close, the children and
younger adults simply flitted like young partridges, while the elders
stiffened rigidly, with bristling brows and everting lips and purpling
eyes, perhaps accompanied by harsh gutturization—indeed the curiously
canine snarl and growl, often evoked by the stranger unintentionally,
betrayed the bitterness of Seri antipathy toward even the most
tolerable aliens. Every human is panoplied in a personality, perhaps
intangible but none the less real, which repels undue approach and
fixes limits to familiarity on the part of strangers, friends, kinsmen,
and mates, according to their respective degrees of mutually elective
affinity; but the Seri are so close to each other and so far from
all others that they are collectively panoplied against extra-tribal
personalities even as are antipathetic animals against each other—and
the Seri can no more control the involuntary snarl and growl at the
approach of the alien than can the hunting-dog at sight or smell of the
timber-wolf.
[Illustration: PL. XIX
THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
TYPICAL SERI WARRIOR]
While the highly developed traits represented by pedestrian habit
and hand-and-tooth habit and segregative habit expressing race-sense
are conspicuous during exercise, each carries an equally well-marked
obverse. Thus, while the Seri are known as runners par excellence
in a region of runners, and were named by aboriginal neighbors from
their spryness of movement, they have been no less notorious among the
Caucasian settlers of two generations for unparalleled laziness—for
a lethargic sloth beyond that of sluggish ox and somnolent swine,
which was an irritating marvel to the patient padres of the eighteenth
century, and is today a byword in the even-tempered Land of Mañana;
concordantly the sinewy hands and muscular jaws are noticeably inert
during the intervals between intense functionings, are practically
free from the spontaneous or nervous movements of habitually busy
persons, and contribute by their immobility to the air of indolence
or languor which so impressed padres and rancheros; concordantly
also, the manifestations of race hate, doubtless culminating among
warriors on the warpath, are strongly contrasted with the abject
docility of the Seri groups when at peace and in camp near Costa Rica
and other ranchos—a docility far exceeding that of the Papago, whose
personal dignity is an ever-present possession, or that of Yaqui,
whose strong spirit so often breaks the curb of Caucasian control. So
the observer of the Seri is impressed by the intensity of functioning
along lines defined by their characteristic traits, and equally by the
capriciousness of the functioning and the remarkably wide range between
activity and inactivity which render them aggregations of extremes—the
Seri are at once the swiftest and the laziest, the strongest and the
most inert, the most warlike and the most docile of tribesmen; and
their transitions from rôle to rôle are singularly capricious and
sudden. At the same time the observer is impressed by the relatively
long intervals between the periods of activity; true, the intense
activity may cover hours, as in the chase of a deer, or days, as in a
distant predatory raid, or perhaps even weeks, when the tribe is on the
warpath; yet all the known facts indicate that far the greater portion
of the time of warriors, women, and children is spent in idle lounging
about rancherias and camps, in lolling and slumbering in the sun by day
and in huddling under the scanty shelter of jacales or shrubbery by
night—i. e., when their activity is measured by hours, their intervals
of repose must be measured by days.
* * * * *
Summarizing those somatic traits connected with habitual functioning,
the Seri may be considered as characterized by (1) distinctive
pedestrian habit, (2) conspicuous hand-and-tooth habit correlated with
defective tool-sense, and (3) pronounced segregative habit correlated
with a highly specialized race-sense; yet they are characterized no
less by extreme alternations from the most intense functioning to
complete quiescence—the periods of intensity being relatively short,
and the intervals of quiescence notably long.
* * * * *
On reviewing the more conspicuous somatic structures and functions
jointly, they are found to throw some light on their own development,
and hence on the natural history of the Seri tribe.
Certain characteristics of the tribe strongly suggest lowly condition,
i. e., a condition approaching that of lower animals, especially
of carnivorous type; among these are the specific color, the
centripetally developed body, the tardy adolescence, the defective
tool-sense, the distinctive food habits (especially the consumption
of raw offal and carrion), the independence of fixed habitations, and
the extreme alternations between the rage of chase and war and the
quiescence of sluggish repose. But these primitive characteristics
are opposed or qualified by such features as the noble stature, the
capacious and shapely brain-case, the well-developed hands, and the
considerable intelligence revealed in native shrewdness as well as in
organization and belief. Collectively the characteristics are in some
measure incongruous; yet all are at least fairly compatible with
the inference that the tribe is exceptionally (if not incomparably)
low in the scale of general human development, yet at the same time
highly specialized along certain lines; and the inference in turn
is corroborated by the coincidence between the special lines of
development and the peculiar conditions of environment characterizing
the habitat of the tribe.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XX
THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
TYPICAL SERI MATRON]
A striking correspondence between Seri physique and Seri habitat is
revealed in the pedal development, with the attendant development
of muscle and bone, lung capacity, and heart power, together with
other faculties involved in the pedestrian habit. Seriland is a hard
and inhospitable home; sea-food is indeed abundant and easily taken,
but water is terribly—often fatally—scarce, and obtainable only by
distant journeying from the places of easy food supply; moreover, the
monotony of the diet is alleviable only by extensive wandering for the
collection of vegetal products or severe chase after land animals;
while the warlike spirit, apparently inherited from a still less
humane ancestry and fostered by the geographic isolation, combines to
keep the tribe afoot, avoiding waters, conducting raids, and moving
constantly from place to place in the endless search for safety.
There is a widespread Sonoran tradition that the Seri systematically
exterminate weaklings and oldsters; and it is beyond doubt that the
tradition has a partial foundation in the elimination of the weak
and helpless through the literal race for life in which the bands
participate on occasion. A parallel eliminative process is common among
many American aborigines; the wandering bands frequently undergo hard
marches under the leadership of athletic warriors with whom all are
expected to keep pace, and this leads both to desertion of the aged
and feeble and to increased strength and endurance on the part of the
strong and enduring; yet it would appear that this merciless mechanism
for improving the fit and eliminating the unfit attains unusual, if
not unequaled, perfection among the Seri. Now pedal development is one
of the special processes of peripheral (or centrifugal) functioning
and growth involved in the general process of _cheirization_, which,
coordinately with cephalization, defines human progress;[254] and this
developmental process explains the specialization of the Seri along
one or more lines, and connects the special development directly with
environing conditions.
[254] The Trend of Human Progress, American Anthropologist, new series,
vol. 1, 1899, p. 401.
A notable correspondence between structure and function, of such
sort as to reflect the habit and habitat, appears in the conspicuous
manual development of the Seri. Enjoying a climate too mild to make
houses necessary, finding animal food too plentiful to necessitate
elaborate contrivances for the chase or milling or other devices
for reducing vegetal food, provided by nature with material (in the
form of carrizal) for an ideally suitable water craft, barred by
geographic boundaries from neighboring tribes, and having neither
material for nor interest in commerce, the denizens of Seriland were
never forced into the way of mechanical development; yet their simple
industries, involving as they do swift stroke and strong grasp and
dexterous digitation, are mainly such as urge manual development more
strenuously than would be normal among tribesmen connected with their
environment through the medium of tools. The demand for manual strength
and skill is intensified among the Seri by both natural and domestic
conditions; the ever-ready (and almost the sole) material suitable for
simple adjuncts to the hand abounds in the form of wave-worn cobbles;
these cobbles are easily usable in such wise as to serve all ordinary
purposes, and their abundance discourages the production of more
highly differentiated tools; while their habitual use promotes manual
strength and deftness, coupled with that digital freedom (required, for
example, in grasping a ball) which most clearly distinguishes the human
hand from the subhuman paw. Conjoined with these natural conditions
are demotic demands tending to cultivate manual fitness and eliminate
the manually unfit; for, in addition to the direct industrial premium
on dexterity, through which the dexterous survive while the clumsy
starve, there is a special premium growing out of the marriage custom,
through which only the manually efficient (and at the same time morally
acceptable) are put in the way of leaving lines of descendants.[255]
Naturally, in view of the combination of factors, all traceable
directly or indirectly to environmental conditions, the Seri afford a
peculiarly striking example of cheirization extended to an entire tribe
(if not to a genetic stock of people)—indeed the remarkably developed
Seri hands and feet first suggested the importance of this process of
human development and led to its formal characterization.
[255] The marital customs of the tribe are described postea, pp.
279-287.
Accordingly, the robust-bodied and slender-limbed yet big-fisted and
big-footed Seri seem to be adjusted, so far as several of their more
striking somatic characters are concerned, to distinctive habits
themselves reflecting a distinctive habitat; and the coincidences
appear to reveal and establish the law of interaction between the
human organism and its environment—an interaction effected through the
habits and hence through, the normal functioning of the individual
organisms as constrained through their collective relations. And
recognition of the law of interaction opens the way to consideration of
other correspondences between structures and functions and environing
conditions.
Conspicuous among the more strictly functional traits of the Seri is
the intensity of action characteristic especially of the warriors,
though in less degree of the entire tribe—an intensity made all the
more striking by contrast with the extreme inertness between stresses.
Manifestly the capacity for concentrated effort is in harmony with the
tribal habits, themselves reflecting habitat. The resource of prime
importance in Seriland—that which directly and constantly conditions
the very existence of human inhabitants—is potable water. This prime
source of life is too heavy to be transported and too unstable to be
stored with the facilities of primitive culture, yet it is always
within reach of an organism strong enough to journey ten or twenty
or fifty miles in search of it, and acute enough to follow trails
and indications. Naturally the meager water-supply serves as a
mechanism for sorting out and preserving the strong and the acute,
and for eliminating the weakly and the dull; and hence the tribe have
developed a faculty, or perhaps a potentiality, of distinctive sort—the
potentiality of providing against thirst-death by a reserve power in
the organism itself rather than in the form of mechanical devices such
as characterize higher culture. Quite similar are the relations to the
resource of second importance, i. e., ordinary food. Habituated to
dispensing with storage and transportation of their primary resource,
and accustomed to finding food whenever forced to sufficiently
active effort to obtain it, the Seri have never grasped that first
principle of thrift expressed in the accumulation of food supplies; and
accordingly they intuitively rely on successful fishing or chase or
search of vegetal edibles for sustenance, and habitually delay effort
until they are stirred into activity by the pangs of hunger. Naturally
this improvidence serves as another mechanism for perpetuating families
of stored vitality, and especially those able to prevail over swift
or strong or cunning quarry by sustained vigor and alertness after
prolonged deprivation; and the effect of this mechanism, too, is
to develop a reserve power in the organism itself, in lieu of the
material reserve made through thrift in higher culture. Similar in
their consequences are the relations of the individual organisms to
the third industry of Seriland, i. e., navigation of the gale-swept
and tide-troubled waters. Even the buoyant balsa can not weather the
williwaws or ride the tiderips of El Infiernillo without exercise of
the utmost strength and skill on the part of the navigators; while
the often persistent storms may delay for days embarkation on voyages
in quest of fresh water or food. Naturally, the frequent delays and
not infrequent perils of such navigation constitute a mechanism for
selecting navigators possessed of reserve powers adequate to meet
desperate emergencies with vigor and judgment even after enervating
waits for wind and tide, while those not so well endowed are either
brought up to standard in their hard training-school or expelled from
their class by drowning or dashing on the rocks, as may happen; so
that the effect of this mechanism also is to preserve individuals and
perpetuate generations characterized by reserve power, and hence to
develop latent potentiality in the tribe. Now, the normal product of
these and other natural mechanisms immediately reflecting environmental
conditions is capacity for spurts, or for intense functioning under
severe stress, despite accentuation of the stress by thirst or hunger
or exhaustion, or by all combined—i. e., the effect of habitat and
habit is to produce precisely such a somatic regimen as that so
conspicuously displayed by the Seri folk. So the intensified activity
with long intervals of inertness, simulating the habits of carnivorous
and some other lower animals, and hence suggesting primitive condition,
would appear to be largely a phylogenetically acquired character
expressing specific adjustment to environment.
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To the actual observer of the Seri in his prime there is an indefinable
but none the less impressive harmony between the intense regimen and
the trenchant structural development characteristic of the tribe—a
harmony like unto that felt by naturalist and artist alike in viewing
at once the clean-cut form and vigorously easy mobility of tiger or
thoroughbred horse; and simple inspection of the lithe limbs and
body-muscles stirs into living realization a half-felt inference
from many facts—the obvious and indubitable inference that they are
stress-shaped structures. Accordingly, the concentrated and robust
bodies, the shapely jaws, the well-chiseled arms, and the statuesque
legs of the Seri, no less than their powerful hands and bulky feet,
direct special attention to the axiom that somatic structures are the
product of exercise, and indicate with convincing clearness that the
structures are trenchantly developed because of the supreme intensity
of the creative exercise. It may be impracticable to outline in terms
of metabolism the precise processes of waste and repair in organs and
organisms, or to define the relative periods of action and assimilation
(or of catabolism and anabolism) best adapted to the development
of motile tissue; yet the external facts of all bodily growth
demonstrate the efficiency of alternating effort and repose, while the
characteristics of highly developed animal bodies (including those
of the Seri) demonstrate that the most beneficial exercise is that
of relatively brief but intense stresses alternating with relatively
long intervals of sluggish movement or complete repose. Moreover, the
facile metabolism involved in the widely alternating regimen implies
exceptional somatic plasticity of the sort normally accompanying youth
and attending tissue growth; and this persistent bodily plasticity is
in harmony with the peculiarly dilatory maturation characteristic of
the Seri tribe. So the animal-like bodies of the Seri, no less than
their animal-like movements, which at first sight suggest primitive
condition, may safely be held in large measure to reflect specific
habits of life, themselves reflecting a distinctive habitat.
Still more suggestive to the observer than the well-molded structures
and the intense functioning with which they are conjoined are those
elusive yet persistent characteristics of the Seri comprised in their
distinctive race sense—characteristics ranging from overweening
intratribal pride to overpowering extratribal hatred. Even at first
blush it would seem obvious that the tribal isolation, itself the
reflection of environment, would necessarily tend toward a segregative
habit with concomitant hostility toward aliens; yet the race-sense
of the Seri so far transcends that of other segregated tribes as to
suggest the existence of a specific cause. So, too, it would seem
obvious that the race feeling gathers about a corporeal nucleus in the
form of the race-type exemplified in the heroic stature, the shapely
face, the mighty chest, the luxuriant hair, the well-modeled muscles,
the powerful feet and hands, the “collected” carriage, and the stored
vitality, which (as already indicated) synthesize the environmental
interactions of generations; yet the actual student can not avoid
the impression that the race-sense dominates the race-type—that
the Seri are farther away from neighboring tribes in feeling than in
features, in function than in structure, in mind than in body. Now,
in seeking the sources of this distinctive (not to say specific)
race-sense, several suggestions arise. Naturally the first suggestion
is that of simple sexual selection, the (assumptive) analogue of an
important factor in biotic evolution; but the suggestion is at once
apparently negatived by the fact that all the mature men and women are
married and have families of children proportionate to their ages.
True, undesirable fiancés may be expelled from the tribe, or even
executed (as intimated by neighboring Sonorenses); yet there is little
evidence that either method of selection is employed among the Seri
more largely than among other peoples; and, as all recent researches
indicate, the higher peoples at least have risen above the plane of
sexual selection per se as an effective factor in somatic development.
A second suggestion arises in the axiom (vivified by realization of the
connection between Seri movements and Seri structures) that perfected
organs are the product of stressful functioning—indeed, the suggestion
is but the extension of the axiom from the individual to the stirp and
the group. In developing the suggestion it is convenient to divide the
career of the stirp into periods defined by the successive wax and
wane of vitality in its most significant manifestations; and this may
be done in terms of successive individual lifetimes in their three
successive aspects of (1) youth, (2) maturity, and (3) senility, in
which the dominant constructive functions are respectively (1) somatic
growth, (2) collective growth (comprising both procreation and the
accumulation of artificial possessions), and (3) dissipation of somatic
vitality and distribution of extrasomatic accumulations (generational
as well as material and intellectual). Now, it is a commonplace in
every stage of culture that vital capacity, and also the inherent
sense of kind manifested in pairing, culminate in the medial portion,
or prime, of individual life; and if this universal recognition is
valid, it is just to hold that the career of the stirp is defined by
the successive vital climaxes expressing the primes of the series of
generations pertaining to the stirp. It follows that each generation
must represent, not the average qualities of the entire generation
past, but the qualities of the most virile and muliebrile fraction
of that generation; whence it follows in turn that in general the
generations must develop along the lines most prominent in the lives
of each people in their prime. The process may be formulated as the
_law of periodic conjugation_, under which successive generations are
initiated, not at random, but at periods of culminant effectiveness
in shaping the course of the stirp. The immediate application of
this law to the Seri tribe is manifest, for it explains (the initial
condition of isolation and the consequent incipient segregative habit
being given) how and why the tribal standards have grown more definite
from generation to generation, and have interacted cumulatively
with the distinctive environment in such manner as continually to
widen the chasm between the desert-bound tribe and their alien
neighbors. Yet the general application of the law leads only to a
more specific application; for, just as the career of the stirp is
made up of a succession of vital maxima and minima, so the lifetime
of the individual, even in the median stage, is made up of a series
of vital climaxes separated by relatively inert intervals; and, as
recognized by every naturalist and romancist, every philosopher and
poet, in every stage of culture, it is during the periods of conative
domination by the master passion that the career of the individual
is shaped and that the stirp-sentiment (or susceptibility to kind)
culminates in intensity. It follows that the progeny of successive
generations represent not merely the optimum median stage of life
in which vitality and virility and muliebrity are at flood, but the
very climaxes of this stage in which manhood and womanhood attain
their ideals, and in which the ideals react on the physical system
with unequaled intensity; it follows in turn that each generation
must (in so far as intellectual tension can control long series of
metabolic interactions after the manner in which short series are
controlled by direct volitional exercise) incarnate the ideals of the
preceding generation; whence it follows still further that in general
isolated race-types tend constantly and cumulatively to increase in
definiteness—at least until the somatic factors are counterbalanced
by demotic relationships arising with considerable increase in
population. It is true that the extent to which the incarnation of
ideals is effective or even possible has not been measured; it is
also true that the naturalists of the higher culture-stages commonly
neglect the process; yet the occasional recognition of its positive
aspect, as in Goethe’s “elective affinities” and in Jacob’s getting of
“ringstraked, speckled, and spotted” stock (Genesis XXX, 37-41), and
the practically universal recognition—more especially among primitive
peoples—of its negative aspect in adverse prenatal influences, clearly
indicates its importance; the fact that the ancient Greeks at once
idealized in unparalleled degree, and produced unexcelled perfection
in, the human form being of no small significance. Even if the
measure of the incarnation of ideals be reduced to the lowest minimum
consistent with common knowledge, it remains true that the progeny of
successive generations are not the offspring of average parents, but of
pairs at the perfection and conjugal culmination of their virile and
muliebrile excellencies; so that the generations must run in courses of
cumulatively increasing racial (or human) perfection, under a general
_law of conjugal conation_.
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SERI MATRON]
In extending the general law of conjugal conation to the Seri, it is
found peculiarly applicable, in view of their distinctive marriage
custom, the effect of which is to intensify conjugal sentiments, with
the attendant magnification, and potential if not actual incarnation,
of ideals.[256] Accordingly there would appear to be a harmony
between Seri race-sense and Seri race-type no less delicate than
that between the stressful action and the stress-shaped structures
of the tribe, and while the inception of both type and feeling may
be ascribed to the isolated environment, it seems manifest that both
have interacted constructively and in cumulative fashion through a
significant process exemplified more clearly by this tribe than by
others thus far studied. At the same time, analysis of the harmony
between type and sentiment indicates that the lowly Seri are actually,
albeit unconsciously, carrying out a meaningful experiment in
stirpiculture—an experiment whose methods and results are equally
valuable to students. The Seri gymnastic and the Seri stirpiculture
are in close accord, in that both are conditioned by initially
dilatory yet ultimately intense action; the results are equally
accordant in that the one conduces toward individual vigor and the
other toward a vigorous and distinctive stirp; while the excellence of
the methods (viewed from the somatic standpoint) is attested by the
magnificence of the product. Now, comparison of the stirpicultured
Seri with contemporary tribes shows that the desert-bound folk
have attained unequaled somatic development, and suggests that the
intuitive stirpicultural processes have been rendered peculiarly
effective through the persistence of that tribal isolation in which
the processes apparently took rise; so the race-sense of the Seri may
be regarded as the product of long-continued stirpicultural processes,
initially shaped by environment, yet developed to unusual degree
by somatico-social habits, kept alive largely through continuous
environmental interaction.
[256] The law of conjugal conation was indeed suggested by observations
on the peculiar marriage custom and peculiarly developed race-sense
of the Seri tribe, and it has already been applied in certain of its
aspects as an explanation of the initial humanization of mankind (The
Trend of Human Progress, American Anthropologist, new series, vol. 1,
1889, pp. 415-418).
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* * * * *
Summarily, the Seri are characterized by noble physique, by peculiarly
swift and lightsome movements, by great endurance coupled with
capacity for vigorous action, by animal-like symmetry and slowness
of maturation, and by various minor attributes combining with the
major features to form a distinctive race-type; and they are still
more conspicuously characterized by an acute race-sense which holds
them apart from all aliens. At first sight, several of their somatic
attributes seem incomparably primitive, yet analysis of the attributes
in the light of certain laws which they exemplify better than other
peoples thus far studied indicates not so much a lack of development
as an excess of growth along purely somatic lines, with a correlative
defect of development along demotic lines; and when the lines of growth
are traced to the sources and conditions, it becomes fairly clear
that the aberrant development of the tribe is merely the reflection
of a distinctive environment operating (evidently) throughout a long
period. In brief, the somatic interest of the Seri seems to center in
the remarkable adjustment of the tribe to a peculiar environment—an
adjustment of such delicacy as to imply interaction throughout many
generations.
DEMOTIC CHARACTERS
The Seri, like all other peoples, are characterized by various
collective attributes which vastly transcend in interest and importance
the somatic attributes exhibited by the individuals. These superorganic
attributes are essentially activital—i. e., they represent what the
people _do_ rather than what they merely _are_; and in both collective
and activital aspects they serve to distinguish the human realm from
the organic realm, and to afford a basis for the classification of
mankind—i. e., they combine to form demotic characters.
The demotic characters of the Seri, like those of other peoples, may
be classed as (1) esthetic, (2) industrial, (3) institutional, (4)
linguistic, and (5) sophic; and in this order the essentially human
attributes of the tribe (except the last named) may be described. It is
a matter of deep regret that the data concerning the demotic characters
of the tribe are too meager to afford more than a mere outline of their
activities, and that their suggestive mythology must be passed over for
the present.
SYMBOLISM AND DECORATION
FACE-PAINTING
One of the most conspicuous customs of the Seri is that of painting
the face in designs by means of mineral pigments. Of the 55 members of
the tribe shown in the group forming plate XIII, 28 (in the original
photograph; a somewhat less number in the reproduction) exhibit
face-painting more or less clearly, and this proportion may be regarded
as typical; i. e., about half of the tribe are painted.
On noting the individual distribution of face-painting, it is found
to be practically confined to the females, though male infants are
sometimes marked with the devices pertaining to their mothers, as adult
warriors are said to be on special occasions; and so far as observed
all the females, from aged matrons to babes in arms, are painted,
though sometimes the designs are too nearly obliterated by wear to be
traceable. About 35 of the individuals shown in the group (plate XIII)
are females; of these, fully four-fifths showed designs or definite
traces of the paint, while the remaining fifth bore traces too faint
to be caught by the camera; but none of the men or larger boys were
painted. In the smaller group shown in plate XIV all of the females
display paint, as does the small boy in the center also, while the man
(husband of the middle-aged matron) reveals no trace of the symbol. The
two pictures typify the prevalence and the distribution by sex of the
painting.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
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The painted designs vary among different individuals, but are fairly
persistent for each. The prevailing design at Costa Rica in 1893 was
that of the aged matron known as Juana Maria (plate XVIII), with
variations in detail such as that exhibited by her unmarried daughter
Candelaria (the Seri belle shown in plate XXIV); next in frequency
were the designs, in white and red, exhibited by the matrons portrayed
in plates XX and XXII. Other designs observed are indicated in plate
XXVI. The variations in individual designs are apparently due either
to varying care in the application of the paint or to the degree of
obliteration by wear—e. g., the withered Juana Maria sometimes put
on her design askew and was negligent of details, while the blooming
Candelaria greatly elaborated the details of the pattern and carefully
perfected the symmetry of the whole when preparing for her full-dress
sitting before the camera (plate XXIV), so that her design was then
gorgeous by contrast with the nearly obliterated blur of a half-hour
before. The designs are renewed every few days, especially for
ceremonious occasions, and hence are practically permanent.
When grouped in relation to their wearers, the designs are found to
exhibit family connection. Thus, Juana Maria’s design is repeated,
with greater elaboration of detail and with a pair of supplementary
marks, in that of her daughter Candelaria; the winged symbol of the
Seri matron portrayed in plate XX is repeated with minor variations
in that of her daughter, the Seri maiden pictured in plate XXV; while
the symbols of the mother and infant daughter depicted in plate XV
are essentially alike. It is noticeable, too, that in the nearly
spontaneous arrangement of individuals in the group shown in plate
XIII there is a tendency toward subgrouping by symbols; and it was
constantly observed that the family groups gathered about particular
jacales (such as that shown in plate XIV) displayed corresponding
designs, though there were frequent visitors from neighboring jacales
bearing other designs. Briefly, all the observed facts, as well as the
supplementary information gained by inquiry, indicate that the designs
are hereditary in the female line, but are susceptible of slight
modification both in elaborateness of detail and in the addition of
minor supplementary features.
The principal apparatus and materials used in the face-painting are
illustrated in plate XXVII. The chief pigments are ocher, gypsum, and
the rare mineral dumortierite; the ocher yields various shades of red,
ranging from pink to brown; the gypsum affords the white used in most
of the designs; while the dumortierite is the source of the slightly
varying tints of blue. So far as was observed, the pigments are not
blended by mixing, though there is some blending due to overlapping
in application. The ocher is commonly extracted and transported as
lumps of ocherous clay or ocherous gypsum (plate XXVII, figures 1 and
5), though it is sometimes reduced to powder and transported in bits
of skin or rag, or in cylinders of cane (plate XXVII, figures 3 and
4); and it is prepared by trituration with a pebble or rubbing with
the fingers, usually in a shell cup. Sometimes the shell used for the
purpose is the valve of a _Cardium_, which serves indiscriminately
as cup, spoon, skin-scraper, etc.; but preference is apparently given
to thick and strong shells, such as the wave-worn valve of _Chama_
(?), shown in plate XXVII, figure 7, which are consecrated to the use
and eventually buried with the user, together with a supply of the
paint (like that illustrated in the cane cylinder—figure 4—which was
a mortuary sacrifice). The gypsum is usually carried in natural slabs
or other fragments, perhaps rounded by wear (plate XXVII, figures 6
and 8); it is prepared by wetting and rubbing two pieces together, the
larger being reduced to metate shape by the operation. The dumortierite
was observed only in the form of a pencil made by pulverizing the
substance and mixing with sufficient clay to give consistency. The
several pigments are applied wet by means of human-hair brushes kept
for the purpose, the process occupying from half an hour to three or
four hours for the more elaborate designs. So far as observed at Costa
Rica in 1894, the paints were mixed in water only; but since painting
outfits found on Tiburon island in 1895 were smeared with grease,
it is probable that either water or fats may serve for menstrua, at
the convenience of the artists. Commonly the process of painting is
measurably cooperative. The matron usually depicts her device on the
faces of her daughters up to the age of 12 or 15 years, when they
learn to make the applications themselves; and frequently two or more
women (usually those with similar devices) work together in preparing
and applying the pigments, each laying the paint on her own face and
apparently guiding her hand partly by the sense of feeling and partly
by suggestions from her coworkers; but Candelaria and some other of the
younger women at Costa Rica frequently worked alone, aided by a mirror
in the form of a shallow bowl of water set in the shadow while the
brilliant desert glare fell full on the face.
The mines yielding the pigments were not located. The geologic
conditions are such that the ochers are undoubtedly abundant; but
it is probable that the gypsum is uncommon and confined to a remote
locality or two, and that the dumortierite is rare and scanty here as
elsewhere. The care with which the paints are preserved, prepared, and
applied, the fact that they are indispensable feminine appurtenances
even on the longest journeys, and their sacred rôle in the mortuary
customs, all combine to indicate that they are among the most highly
prized possessions of the people and by far the most precious of their
minerals.
* * * * *
The sematic functions of the designs are esoteric, yet an inkling of
their meaning was obtained through Mashém, the interpreter at Costa
Rica in 1894; from his expressions it appears that the designs are
sacred insignia of totemic character, serving to denote the clans of
which the tribe is composed. But three clans were identified, and
these only with some uncertainty, viz., the Turtle clan,[257] denoted
by the symbols of Juana Maria (plate XVIII) and Candelaria (plate XXIV
and the upper left figure in plate XXVI); the Pelican clan, denoted by
the designs of two typical matrons (plates XX and XXII) and a typical
maiden (plate XXV), and probably also by those of the medio-lateral
figures in plate XXVI; and (still less certainly) the Rattlesnake
clan, denoted by the symbol of the lower left figure in this plate.
The special sematic values of the colors also are esoteric, and were
not ascertained; even in the case of the simple pelican design, the
difference in meaning between the solid red pattern of one group
and the similar pattern of white in another group was successfully
concealed. So, too, the significance of the various subordinate or
supplementary devices—the distinct border-line shown in plate XX, the
lower cheek devices in plate XXIV, the separate chin mark in plate XXV,
the fetish-like symbols on the lower cheeks in the lower left figure
of plate XXVI, etc.—eluded inquiry; while some of the minor features of
both form and color were sufficiently variable in the devices borne by
different faces of the same family, and even in successive paintings of
the same face, to suggest some individual freedom in carrying out the
detail of the generally uniform designs.
[257] This tutelary may be the shark; it was described as a water
monster instrumental in the creation and good for food, but the
identification is not beyond doubt. Cf. p. 278.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
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The telic functions, or ultimate purposes, of the face-painting are
also esoteric, though not beyond the reach of inference from the
sematic functions, coupled with general facts of zoic and primitive
human customs. Even at first sight the painted devices bring to mind
the directive markings of lower animals defined by Professor Todd[258]
and interpreted by Ernest Seton-Thompson;[259] and in view of the
implacably militant habit of the Seri it would seem evident that the
artificial devices are, at least in their primary aspect, analogous to
the natural markings. On analyzing the directive markings of animals,
it is convenient to divide them into two classes, distinguished by
special function, usual placement, and general relation to animal
economy: the first class serve primarily to guide flight in such
manner as to permit ready reassembling of the flock; they are usually
posterior, as in rabbit, white-tail deer, antelope, and various birds;
and they primarily signify inimical relations to alien organisms,
with functional exercise under stress of fear. The second class of
markings serve primarily for mutual identification of approaching
individuals; as comports with this function, they are usually facial,
or at least anterior; and their functional exercise is normally
connected with peaceful association—though the strongly emphasized
facial symbols of the males doubtless blazon forth the alternative
meanings of preference for peace or readiness for strife, like the
calumet tomahawk of the Sioux warrior (as interpreted by Cushing). So
the directive markings of the first class are substantially beacons
of danger and fear, while those of the second are just as essentially
standards of safety and confidence; and they may properly be designated
as _beacon-markings_ and _standard-markings_, respectively.[260] On
seriating the two classes in terms of development, it is at once found
that the beacon-markings are in large measure connected with excursive
movement and are centrifugal in effect, while the standard-markings are
connected mainly with incursive movement and are centripetal in effect;
at the same time the latter express not only the higher intelligence,
but also the greater degree of that conjustment which forms the
basis of collective organization; so that the latter unquestionably
represents the higher developmental stage. Now, the primary functions
of these directive markings of the higher grade—signalization (or
attentionization) and identification—correspond precisely with
paramount needs of the alien-hating and clan-loving Seri; so that
careful analysis would seem fully to justify the casual impression of
functional similitude between the Seri face-painting and the directive
markings of social animals.
[258] American Naturalist, vol. XXII, 1888. pp. 201-207.
[259] Wild Animals I Have Known, 1898, p. 119; Century Magazine, vol.
LIX, 1900, pp. 656-660. In his lectures, Mr Seton-Thompson extends
his interpretations to anterior as well as to posterior markings,
especially the conspicuous and persistent facial features of deer,
antelope, mongrel (or ancestral) dog, etc. Such facial markings
seem especially characteristic of gregarious animals; and they are
peculiarly significant as social symbols rather than as mere beacons
for guidance in flight.
[260] The fundamental distinction is none the less valid by reason
of the occasional combination of functions, as in the antelope
“chrysanthemum” interpreted by Seton-Thompson.
While the first survey establishes a certain analogy between the
primitive face-painting and the standard-markings of animals,
an important disparity is noted when the survey is extended to
individuals; for among beasts and birds the standards are usually the
more conspicuously displayed by the males, while the paint devices of
the Seri are confined to the females. A suggestion pointing toward
explanation of this disparity is readily found in the seriation of
developmental stages marked by (1) the fear-born beacon-markings, (2)
the confidence-speaking standard-markings, and (3) the painted symbols;
for the artificial devices coincide with an immeasurably advanced
mental development, with concomitant advance in safety and peace on
the one hand and in artificializing weapons on the other hand. This
suggestion alone fails to explain the disparity fully, yet it raises
another, growing out of the great social advancement connected with
the mental development—i. e., the effect of the distinctively demotic
organization of the human genus as represented by the Seri people.
On considering this organization, it is found strictly maternal:
the tribe is made up of clans defined by consanguinity reckoned
only in the female line; each clan is headed by an elderwoman, and
comprises a hierarchy of daughters, granddaughters, and (sometimes)
great-granddaughters, collectively incarnating that purity of
uncontaminated blood which is the pride of the tribe; and this female
element is supplemented by a masculine element in the persons of
brothers, who may be war-chiefs or shamans, and may hence dominate
the movements of groups, but whose blood counts as nothing in the
establishment and maintenance of the clan organization. Thus the
females alone are the blood-carriers of the clans; they alone require
ready and certain identification in order that their institutional
theory and practice may be maintained; and hence they alone need to
become bearers of the sacred blood-standards. The warriors belong to
the tribe, and are distinguished by luxuriantly flowing hair, by the
up-stepping movement from which the people derive their appellation, by
their unique archery attitude, and by their dark skin-color; the boys
count for little until they enter the warrior class; but on the females
devolves the duty of defining and maintaining the several streams of
blood on which the rigidly guarded tribal integrity depends.[261]
Undoubtedly the blood-markings play an important rôle in courtship and
marriage, but too little is known of the esoteric life of the tribe to
permit this rôle to be traced.
[261] The essentially zoocratic nature of Seri law and custom is set
forth postea, p. 294.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL XXVI
CHARACTERISTIC FACE PAINTING.]
In brief, the Seri face-painting would seem to be essentially
_zoosematic_, or symbolic of zoic tutelaries, and to signify
subspecific (or subvarietal) characteristics maintained by the clan
organization and kept prominent by the militant habit of the tribe;
at the same time it is noteworthy that the purely symbolic motive
is accompanied by a nascent decorative tendency, displayed by the
individual refinement of form and color in the symbol proper to each of
the groups.
DECORATION IN GENERAL
Aside from the face-painting there is a conspicuous dearth of
decoration or tangible symbolism among the Seri.
The symbolic or decorative modification of the physique would seem to
be limited to two classes of mutilations, of which one was observed
at Costa Rica in 1894 while the other is apparently obsolete. The
observed corporeal modification is the absence of medial superior
incisors of the females, in consequence of forcible removal at a
period not definitely ascertained. The interpreter at Costa Rica was
uncommunicative on the subject; Don Pascual opined that the mutilation
formed part of an elaborate puberty ceremonial, and this opinion would
seem to be corroborated by the condition of the cranium of an immature
female examined by Dr Hrdlička; but since the half-dozen adult maidens
at the rancho in 1894 were free from the mutilation while all the wives
bore its gruesome trace, it would seem more probable that the custom
is connected with marriage. Whatever the period of the infliction,
Mashém’s guarded expressions seemed to indicate that it was a mark of
physical inferiority; and this suggestion, interpreted in the light of
the Seri use of teeth as weapons of offense and defense, would seem
to indicate that the mutilation is at once the badge of corporeal
inferiority and a means of maintaining the physical superiority of the
males—of course in that theoretically fiducial but actually forceful
way characteristic of primitive culture.
The second mutilation was the only corporeal modification noted by
early missionaries and explorers—it was the perforation of the nasal
septum for the insertion of a skewer, perhaps of polished stone (though
doubtless more commonly of bone), to which swinging objects were
attached. One of the most useful records is that of the Jesuit, Padre
Joseph Och, who described the nasal attachment as a small, colored
stone suspended by cords from the perforated septum, and guarded with
such jealous veneration that “one must give them at least a horse
or a cow for one” (ante, p. 78); while according to Hardy’s record,
the nasal fetish is “a small, round, white bone, 5 inches in length,
tapering off at both ends, and rigged something like a cross-jack
yard.”[262] The custom is apparently obsolete, and nothing is known
directly of details or motives.
[262] Travels, p. 286.
[Illustration: FIG. 7—Snake-skin belt.]
Excepting these mutilations the corporeal decoration of the Seri is
apparently limited to the face-painting: among the 60 individuals at
Costa Rica in 1894 there was no trace of tattooing or scarification of
face, limbs, or body; there were no labrets or earrings, and neither
lips nor ears were pierced, nor were nasal septa observed to be
perforated in accordance with the reputed ancient custom; the teeth
were neither filed nor drilled; no indications of amputation or other
maiming (save the removal of the incisors) were observed—indeed, the
instinct for physical markings of symbolic or decorative character,
which seems to be normal to primitive men, was apparently satisfied by
the prevalent and persistent face-painting among the females.
The extra-corporeal decorative devices are of a meagerness and
poverty even transcending the poor apparel, flimsy habitations, and
generally ill-developed artifacts of the lowly tribe.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVII
SERI FACE PAINTING PARAPHERNALIA.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8—Dried flower necklace.]
The most prominent personal possession is the pelican-skin robe; it
is usually made of six skins, slightly dressed and in full plumage,
sewed together with sinew in a conventional pattern of such sort as
to give the greatest possible expanse consistent with the irregular
outlines of the individual skins, and at the same time to display a
conventional color pattern on the feathered side, the colors ranging
from the dorsal slate to the ventral white of the fowl (as indicated
in plate XXIII); sometimes there are only four skins and rarely there
are eight, but the conventional arrangement is maintained. Before the
beginning of a fairly regular barter at Rancho de Costa Rica, and hence
before the introduction of manta and other stuffs, the pelican-skin
robes were supplemented by kilts made of mesquite root or other fibers,
spun and twisted in the fingers and woven probably on some primitive
device no longer in use; but so far as is known these native fabrics
were devoid of decorative patterns in color or weave. Less habitually
a short wammus or shirt, with long sleeves, made of a material similar
to that of the kilt, was worn; but it, too, was without ornamentation,
so far as can be ascertained. The remaining article of utilitarian
apparel is the belt, usually consisting of a strip of skin (of deer,
rabbit, peccary, etc.), slightly dressed with the hair on; frequently
this is replaced by a cord or braided band of human hair, while the
favorite belt of some of the young warriors is a snake skin (such as
that illustrated in figure 7); but so far as was seen the belts are not
extended into tassels, decorative appendages, or even flowing ends.
[Illustration: FIG. 9—Seed necklace.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10—Nut pendants.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11—Shell beads.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12—Wooden beads.]
The presumptively decorative costumery observed is limited to
necklaces, usually of strung seeds, shells, and beads of wood or bone
(figures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13), though animal appendages, such as
hoofs, teeth, etc., are sometimes worn. The most highly prized necklace
found at Costa Rica was a human-hair cord with nine crotalus rattles
attached (figure 14), worn by a young warrior of the Rattlesnake (?)
clan. Not the slightest indication of headdresses was seen (though
deer and lion masks are said by Hardy to have been worn on occasions);
there were no bracelets, leg-bands, or rings of any description, and
the cheap jewelry given to many of the women and youths at Costa Rica
was either strung about the neck or concealed; while it is significant
that even the showiest jewelry was less appreciated than bits of manta
or lumps of sugar. When it is remembered that the Seri have been in
occasional contact with Caucasians for over three and a half centuries,
the fact that not a single glass bead was found among them becomes
significant; and the significance of the simple fact is increased by
the virtual absence of that persistent desire and protean use for
beads—or bead-sense—so prominent among most primitive tribes.
[Illustration: FIG. 13—Necklace of wooden beads.]
Naturally the conditions at Costa Rica were unfavorable to the study
of native ideas concerning apparel. The women and some of the children
were arrayed chiefly in cast-off habiliments of the rancheras or in
nondescript rags, while the men either aped Mexican fashions, like
Mashém, or shamefacedly sweltered under the unaccustomed burden of
tatterdemalion gear; yet there was a meaningful absence of that desire
for finery so prominent among primitive peoples—a fact quite as
eloquent in itself as the absence of bracelets and bangles, tassels and
trappings. It is probable that the shamans and mystery-hedged crones in
the depths of Seriland enhance their influence by the aid of symbolic
paraphernalia (indeed, some inkling of such customs is found in the
meager records of earlier visitors);[263] yet the conspicuous feature
of Seri costumery is the dearth of decorative devices.
[263] Hardy noted the use of “a small leathern bag, painted and
otherwise ornamented”, as a medicine rattle (Travels, p. 282), and also
described a wind-symbol and an effigy used for thaumaturgic purposes
(ibid., pp. 294, 295).
The habitations of the tribe are the simplest of jacales—mere bowers,
affording partial protection from sun and wind, but not designed
to shed rain or bar cold. Half a dozen of these were examined at
Costa Rica in 1894 and probably a hundred more, in various stages of
habitability, in Seriland proper in 1895, yet not the slightest trace
of decoration was observed—the structures are plainly and barrenly
utilitarian in every feature. The same may be said of the balsas
in which the Seri navigate their stormy waters; for the peculiarly
graceful curves of the craft evidently stand for nothing more than
the mechanical solution of a complex problem in balanced forces,
wrought out through the experience of generations, while the simple
reed bundles are absolutely devoid of paint, of superfluous cord, of
fetishistic appendages or markings, of tritons, nereids, or other
votive symbols at bow or stern, and of industrially superfluous
features or attachments in general—indeed, the only appendages
discovered were one or two simple wooden marlinspikes (shown in figure
26), thrust among the reeds to be at hand in case of need for repairs.
[Illustration: FIG. 14—Rattlesnake necklace.]
Among the utensils employed in the primitive householdry of the Seri
the most conspicuous and at the same time the most essential is the
olla, or water-jar. Its technical features are described elsewhere; but
it may here be noted that the olla is the central artifact about which
the very life of the tribe rotates: since the clans never reside and
rarely camp nearer than 3 to 15 miles from the aguaje, a large part
of the water consumed must be transported great distances in these
vessels; since the region is one of extreme aridity, the lives of small
parties often depend on the integrity of the olla and on the care
with which the fragile vessel is protected from shock or overturning;
and hence the utensil must occupy a large if not a dominant place
in everyday thought—indeed, the fact that it does so is attested by
constant custom and also by its employment as the most conspicuous
among the mortuary sacrifices. Thus, the relation of the Seri olla
to its makers and users is parallel with that of the ever-present
earthen pot to the Pueblo people, or that of the cooking basket to
the acorn-eaters of California, save that its relative importance
is enhanced by the fewness of activital lines and motives in Seri
life. Moreover, this most characteristic utensil is established and
hallowed in Seri thought by immemorial associations: its sherds are
sown over the hundred thousand square miles of ancient “despoblado”
from Tiburon to Caborca, Magdalena, Rio Opodepe, and Cerro Prieto, and
are scattered through the 90 feet of shells forming Punta Antigualla
(perhaps the oldest shell mound of America); and all the sherds from
the range and the shell-strata are so like and so different from any
other fictile ware as to be distinguished at a glance. Hence it would
seem manifest that the Seri olla must constitute a normal nucleus for
the Seri esthetic; yet even here the field is practically barren, as
is shown by the study of a score of usable and mortuary specimens and
of thousands of sherds. The most ornate specimen seen is that depicted
in plate XXXII. Its form, like that of the balsa, is a mechanical
equation of forces and materials; its body-color is that of the clay,
blotched and blackened irregularly by the smoke of the firing; and its
decoration is limited to 17 faint lines or bands radiating downward
from the ill-shaped neck. The radial bands were evidently drawn by a
finger dipped in clayey water after the vessel was otherwise finished
for the firing; they are irregular in placement, width, length, and
direction; they generally run in pairs, two straight lines alternating
with two zigzag lines, though the circuit is completed by two zigzags
drawn wide apart and separated by a single straight line. The meaning
of the device (if meaning there be) was not directly ascertained;
but it is suggestive that its maker and owner was the mother of the
youthful warrior from whom the rattlesnake necklace was obtained (her
face-symbol is that shown in the lower left figure of plate XXVI), and
that the vessel was surrendered more reluctantly than any other article
obtained from the tribe.
Another utensil of some importance to the tribe is a basket of the
type illustrated in figure 24. It is manufactured with much skill and
is used for various domestic purposes, being practically water-tight
and unbreakable, and materially lighter than even the unparalleledly
light fictile ware of the Seri. In form and size and weave the half
dozen examples seen correspond with widespread southwestern types; yet
it is noteworthy that while otherwise similar baskets are habitually
decorated by other basket-making tribes, the Seri specimens were
absolutely devoid of decorative devices.
Practically the only remaining artifacts available for decoration are
those connected with archery; and it suffices to say that while the
bows are skilfully made and the arrows constructed with exceeding
pains, not a single specimen seen showed the slightest trace of
symbolism or of nonutilitarian motive.
* * * * *
Summarily, the Seri are characterized by extreme esthetic poverty. This
has been noted by the early missionaries and by the few other travelers
who have approached their haunts, as well as by the vaqueros on the
Encinas and Serna and other ranchos bordering their range, who know
them as “los pobrecitos”. All observers have been struck with their
destitution and squalor; yet when the impressions are particularized
they are seen to denote absence of the poor luxuries, rather than the
bare necessities, of primitive life. The people are pathetically poor
in the industrial sense; their equipment in artifacts—implements,
weapons, utensils, habitations, apparel—is meager almost, if not quite,
beyond parallel in America; yet their esthetic equipment, practically
limited as it is to a single line of symbolic portrayal, is still more
abjectly meager.
Any comparison of the Seri esthetic with that of other Amerind tribes
serves only to emphasize its paucity: the tribes of the plains, with
their eagle-feather headdresses, elaborately arranged scalp-locks,
widely varied face-painting, and ritualistic camp circles; the Pueblo
peoples, with their ornate masks, elaborate altars, figured stuffs,
and painted pottery; the denizens of the eastern woods, with their
feather-decked peace-pipes, divinatory games, fringe-bordered garments,
and prayer-inscribed arrows; the coastwise peoples of the upper
Pacific, with their labrets and tattoo-marks, totem-poles and carved
house-fronts, painted canoes and prodigal potlatches; the neighboring
desert tribes, with their festal footraces, decorated pottery and
basketry, pendent scarfs and garters, and well-wrought caskets for
family fetishes; even the timid acorn-eaters of California, with their
sacramental baskets, artistically befringed kilts, bead-strings of
far-traveled nacre, and patiently wrought fabrics of rare feathers—all
of these seem rich in esthetic motives when contrasted with “los
pobrecitos” of arid Seriland. And the contrast is only intensified
when the economic motives of the various tribes are compared: the
industrial motives of the Seri are fairly numerous and diverse; they
are skilful huntsmen, successful fishermen, capable navigators, and
competent warriors (as attested by the protection of their principality
for centuries), so that despite the absence of agriculture and the
avoidance of commerce, their industrial range is not very far below
the aboriginal average; and while they are deficient in thrift, this
shortcoming is balanced by a peculiarly developed vital economy whereby
they are delicately adjusted to their environment, as has been already
shown. On the whole, it would appear that the Seri are not only lower
in esthetic development than the contemporary tribes thus far studied,
but also that they stand at the bottom of the scale in the ratio of
esthetic to industrial motives.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DECORATION
Largely through recent researches among the American aborigines, it has
been shown that decorative and many if not all other esthetic concepts
normally arise in symbolism, gradually expand in conventionism,
and eventually mature in a realism which is itself the source of
ever-extending esthetic motives; and the observations on the lowly Seri
afford opportunity for somewhat extending the generalizations based on
higher tribes.
When peoples of unequal cultural development are compared, it is
commonly found that the higher are the more independent in action and
thought: thus, advanced peoples make conquest of nature for their own
behoof, while primitive peoples are largely creatures of environment;
Caucasian citizens are self-conscious lawmakers, while Amerind
tribesmen are semiconsciously dominated by mysteries fearsomely
interpreted by their shamans; and, in general, enlightened men think
and speak freely, come and go as they like, and discard the badges
of conventionism, while savages are constrained by customs carrying
the power of law, controlled by precedent, and clothed in hierarchic
regalia. So, too, when a particular series of tribes are compared, it
is found that those of higher culture (or wider knowledge) are the
more independent, the more given to essays in social and industrial
and other lines of activity, and hence the more varied in esthetic and
economic motives: thus, the several Iroquoian tribes integrated the
knowledge proper to each, and thus made themselves an intellectual and
physical power able to eliminate or assimilate the isolated tribes on
their borders; the sages of the Siouan stock induced the warriors of
their leading tribes to combine in a circle of seven council fires,
which grew into the great Dakota confederacy and soon gained strength
to dominate the entire northern plains; but while these and other
federations were pushing forward on the way leading to feudalism and
thence to national organization, the self-centered California tribes
consecrated their tongues to their own kindred, thereby stifling
culture at its source and virtually leashing themselves unto the
acorn-bearing oaks of their respective glades. Still more striking are
the differences in independence revealed by a comparison of human and
subhuman organisms; for the humans are immeasurably freer and more
spontaneous in thought and action than even the highest beasts: thus,
the Seri blood-bearer applies, renews, and elaborates her face-mark
at will, while the antelope and the raccoon unconsciously develop
their standard-marks through the tedious operation of vital processes
regulated under the cruel law of survival; men make their beds
according to the dictates of judgment, while the half-artificialized
dog lies down in accordance with a hereditary custom which has been
needless for a hundred generations; and the very essence of human
activity is volitional choice (or artificial selection), while the
keynote of merely organic agency is the nonvolitional chance of
natural selection. No less striking are the differences found on
comparing other realms of nature, in which the higher are invariably
characterized by the greater independence; the animal realm is
distinguished from the vegetal realm mainly by the possession of
volitional motility; while the vegetal is distinguished from the
mineral realm chiefly by those better selective powers exemplified
in vital growth. The several comparisons seem to define that course
of volitional development arising in the chemical and mechanical
affinities of the mineral realm, burgeoning in simple vitality,
multiplying in the motility of animal life, greatly expanding in the
collective activity of demotic organization, and culminating in the
conquest of nature through the mind-guided powers of enlightened
mankind. Expressed briefly, this course of development may be
characterized as the progressive passage from _automacy_ to _autonomy_.
The volitional development thus seriated may be divided, somewhat
arbitrarily yet none the less safely, into its esthetic and economic
factors; and, for convenience, the latter maybe considered to comprise
the industrial, institutional, linguistic, and sophic constituents—i.
e., the esthetic activities may be juxtaposed against the several other
activities of demotic life. When this division is made, it at once
becomes manifest that the esthetic activities are the freest and most
spontaneous of the series, and hence lead the way to that autonomy
which marks the highest development. This significant relation has been
glimpsed by various artists and poets, scholars and naturalists; it was
at least partly caught by Goethe when he taught that knowledge begins
in wonder; it was loosely seized by Schiller, and later by Spencer,
in the surplus-energy theory of play; it was grasped by Groos in his
prophecy theory of play,[264] and still more firmly (although less
conspicuously) by Seton-Thompson in his analysis of animal conduct and
motives. The relation has for some years been recognized as one of the
principles underlying the American ethnologic researches; yet it is not
so well understood as to obviate the need for further consideration.
Accordingly it may be pointed out that while the human activities and
the agencies of lower nature rest alike on a mechanical foundation,
the mechanical element diminishes in relative magnitude in passing
from the lower to the higher realms of nature: in the mineral realm
the agencies may be deemed mechanical in character and individual in
effect; in the vegetal realm vitality is superadded, and the effects
are carried forward through heredity; in the animal realm motility
is added in turn, and instinct arises to shape the individual and
hereditary and motile attributes; the social realm may be considered
to be marked by the accession of conjustment, with its multifarious
and beneficent effects on individuals, generations, movements, and
groups; while the rational realm maybe defined as that arising with
the accession of reason as a guide to action, and with the development
of nature-conquest as its most characteristic effect—though it is to
be noted that the several transitions are progressive rather than
saltatory. Thus each realm is characterized by the attributes of
each and all of those lower in the scale, plus its own distinctive
attribute. It may also be pointed out that each new attribute defining
a higher realm is freer and more spontaneous than those of lower
realms; for vitality is freer than mere affinity, self-movement than
mere growth, and cooperation than mere movement, while reason-led
action is freest of all. Accordingly each realm (as already implied)
is characterized by a larger autonomy than any of those lower in the
scale; i. e., by all the factors of autonomy in the lower realms, plus
its own distinctive factor.
[264] Cf. American Anthropologist, new series, vol. 1, 1899, p. 374.
It may be pointed out farther that, in the higher realms at least, the
action normal to each realm tends to generate that characteristic of
the next higher realm: the self-movement of the animal realm is, under
favorable conditions, constrained through vital economy to fall into
the conjustment of the social realm; and the organization of the social
realm, involving as it does a hierarchic arrangement of organisms
according to mentality,[265] habituates the higher individuals of
the organizations to that control of lower individuals which buds in
agriculture, blossoms in civil rule, and fruits in nature-conquest.
Thus the factors of each realm are prophetic of the distinctive factor
of the next higher—and the prophecy is not merely passive, but is,
rather, an actual step in causal sequence.
[265] The spontaneous arrangement of organisms in accordance with
mental grade is well illustrated by that solidarity of desert life
which matures in the cultivation of plants and the investigation of
animals (The Beginning of Agriculture, in The American Anthropologist,
vol. VIII, October, 1895, pp. 350-375; The Beginning of Zooculture,
ibid., vol. X, July 1897, pp. 215-230.)
It may be pointed out still further that, in the higher realms at
least, spontaneous action necessarily precedes maturely developed
function: in the vegetal realm the tree shoots upward before its form
is shaped and its tissue textured by wind and sun and environing
organisms; in the animal realm youthful play presages the prosaic
performances normal to adult life; in the social realm men behave
before framing laws of behavior; and in the rational realm fortuitous
discovery paves the road for sure-footed invention. Thus natural
initiative arises in spontaneous action, while mechanical action is
mainly consequential.
It may be pointed out finally that the field of spontaneous action
is relatively increased with the endless multiplications of action
accompanying the passage from the lower realms to the higher—indeed
the relations may be likened unto those of exogenous growth, which is
largely withdrawn from the irresponsive and stable interior structures
and gathered into the responsive and spontaneously active peripheral
structures; so that spontaneous activity attending natural development
is relatively more important in the higher stages than in the
lower.[266]
[266] The laws of growth recognized herein have been somewhat more
fully outlined elsewhere, notably in The Earth the Home of Man
(Anthropological Society of Washington, Special Papers 2, 1894, pp.
3-8), and in Piratical Acculturation (American Anthropologist, vol. XI,
1898, pp. 243-249).
Now, on combining the several indications it is found clear (1)
that the more spontaneous developmental factor in all normal growth
corresponds with the esthetic factor in demotic activity; (2) that this
is the initiatory factor and the chief determinant of the rate and
course of development; (3) that it is of relatively enlarged prominence
in the higher stages; and hence (4) that the esthetic activities afford
a means of measuring developmental status or the relative positions in
terms of development of races and tribes.
* * * * *
On applying these principles to the Seri tribe, in the light of their
meager industrial motives and still poorer esthetic motives, it would
appear that they stand well at the bottom of the scale in demotic
development. Their somatic characteristics are suggestively primitive,
as already shown; and the testimony of these characteristics is fully
corroborated by that of their esthetic status as interpreted in the
light of the laws of growth.
INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
The pacific vocations of the Seri are few. They are totally without
agriculture, and even devoid of agricultural sense, though they consume
certain fruits and seeds in season; they are without domestic animals,
though they live in cotoleration with half-wild dogs, and perhaps
with pelicans; and they are without commerce, save that primitive
and inimical interchange commonly classed as pillage and robbery.
Accordingly, their pacific industries are limited to those connected
with (1) sustentation, chiefly by means of fishing and the chase;
(2) navigation and carrying, (3) house-building, (4) appareling, and
(5) manufacturing their simple implements and utensils; and these
constructive industries are balanced and conditioned by the destructive
avocation of (6) nearly continuous warfare.
FOOD AND FOOD-GETTING
The primary resource of Seriland is raised to the first place in
realized importance only by its rarity, viz., potable water—a commodity
so abundant in most regions as to divert conscious attention from
its paramount role in physiologic function as well as in industrial
economy. The overwhelming importance of this food-source is worthy of
closer attention than it usually receives. Classed by function, human
foods are (1) nutrients, including animal and vegetal substances which
are largely assimilated and absorbed into the system; (2) assimilants,
including condiments, etc., which promote alimentation and apparently
aid metabolism; (3) paratriptics, or waste preventers, including
alcohol and other stimulants, which in some little-understood way
retard the waste of tissue and consequent dissipation of vital energy;
and (4) diluents, which modify the consistency of solid foods and
thereby facilitate assimilation, besides maintaining the water of the
system. Classed by chemic constitution, the foods may be divided into
(1) proteids, or nitrogenous substances, including the more complex
animal and vegetal compounds; (2) fats, or nonnitrogenous substances
in which the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen is unlike that of water, and
which are second in complexity among animal and vegetal compounds; (3)
carbohydrates, or nonnitrogenous compounds of carbon with hydrogen
and oxygen in the proportions required to form water, which are among
the simpler vegetal and animal compounds; and (4) minerals, chiefly
water, with relatively minute quantities of various salts. Both
classifications are somewhat indefinite, largely because most articles
of food combine two or more of the classes; yet they are useful in
that they indicate the high place of the simple mineral water among
food substances. Quantitatively this constituent stands far in the
lead among foods; the human adult consumes a daily mean of about 4½
pounds of simple liquids and 2½ pounds of nominally solid, but actually
more than half watery, food; so that the average man daily ingests
nearly 6 pounds of water and but little over 1 pound of actually
solid nutrients. Thus the ratio of the consumption of liquid food to
that of solids is (naturally, in view of that readier elimination of
the liquid constituent so characteristic especially of arid regions)
somewhat larger than the ratio of water to solids in the human system,
the ratios being nearly 6:1 and 4:1, respectively.[267] This analysis
serves measurably to explain the peculiarly developed water-sense of
all desert peoples, a sense finding expression in the first tenets of
faith among the Pueblos, in the fundamental law of the Papago, and in
the strongest instinct of the Seri; for among folk habituated to thirst
through terrible (albeit occasional) experience, water is the central
nucleus of thought about which all other ideas revolve in appropriate
orbits—it is an ultimate standard of things incomparably more stable
and exalted than the gold of civilized commerce, the constantly
remembered basis of life itself.
[267] The place of water among food substances is more fully discussed
in The Potable Waters of Eastern United States, 14th Ann. Rep. of the
U. S. Geol. Survey, 1894, pp. 5-8; the physiologic consequences of
deprivation of water are outlined in The Thirst of the Desert, Atlantic
Monthly, April 1898, pp. 483-488.
The potable water of Seriland is scanty in the extreme. The aggregate
daily quantity available during ten months of the average year
(excluding the eight wettest weeks of the two moist seasons) can hardly
exceed 0.1 or 0.2 of a second-foot, or 60,000 to 125,000 gallons
per day, of living water, i. e., less than the mean supply for each
thousand residents of a modern city, or about that consumed in a single
hotel or apartment house. Probably two-thirds of this meager supply
is confined to a single rivulet (Arroyo Carrizal) in the interior of
Tiburon, far from the food-yielding coasts, while the remainder is
distributed over the 1,500 square miles of Seriland in a few widely
separated aguajes, of which only two or three can be considered
permanent; and this normal supply is supplemented by the brackish
seepage in storm-cut runnels, as at Barranca Salina, or in shallow
wells, as at Pozo Escalante and Pozo Hardy, which is fairly fresh and
abundant for a few weeks after each moist season, but bitterly briny
if not entirely gone before the beginning of the next. The scanty
aggregate serves not only for the human but for the bestial residents
of the Seri principality; and its distribution is such that the mean
distance to the nearest aguaje throughout the entire region is 8 or 10
miles, while the extreme distances are thrice greater.
The paucity of potable water and the remoteness of its sources
naturally affect the habits of the folk; and the effect is intensified
by a curious custom, not fully understood, though doubtless connected
with militant instincts fixed (like the habits of primitive men
generally) by abounding faith and persistent ritualistic practice—i.
e., the avoidance of living waters in selecting sites for habitations
or even temporary camps. Thus the principal rancherias on Tiburon
island, about Rada Ballena, are some 4 miles from Tinaja Anita, the
nearest aguaje; the extensive rancherias near Punta Narragansett
measure 10 miles by trail from the same aguaje; the half dozen jacales
about Campo Navidad are separated by some 15 miles of stony and hilly
pathway from the alternative watering places of Tinaja Anita and Arroyo
Carrizal;[268] and the huts crowning the great shell-heap of Punta
Antigualla—one of the most striking records of immemorial occupancy
in America—are nearly or quite 10 miles by trail from Pozo Escalante,
and still further from Aguaje Parilla, the nearest sources of potable
water. These are but typical instances; and while there are ruined huts
(evidently regarded as temporales) near the dead waters of Barranca
Salina and Pozo Escalante, they tell the tribal policy of locating
habitations in places surprisingly remote from running water. Like
other desert folk, the Seri have learned to economize in water-carrying
by swigging incredible quantities on their occasional visits to the
aguajes; it is probable, too, that their systems are inured, somewhat
as are those of the desert animals that survive deprivation of water
for days or months, to prolonged abstinence from liquid food; yet
it seems safe to assume that at least half of the water required in
their vital economy (say 2 or 3 pounds apiece daily, on an average) is
consumed after transportation over distances ordinarily ranging from 4
to 12 miles. Under these conditions the Seri have naturally produced
a highly developed water industry; they are essentially and primarily
water-carriers, and all their other industries are subordinated to this
function.
[268] The preciousness of water in this hard province was impressed in
the 1895 expedition, during which the cost of the commodity, reckoned
on the basis of the time and labor involved in obtaining it, was
estimated at, $10 or $12 per gallon, or about the wholesale price of
the finest champagnes.
Concordantly with their customs, the Seri have a highly differentiated
aquarian device in the form of a distinctive type of olla, which is
remarkable for the thinness and fragility of the ware, i. e., for
largeness of capacity in proportion to weight. Representative specimens
are illustrated in plates XXXII and XXXIII (the former painted, as
already described). The dimensions of the two vessels are as follows:
painted olla, height 34 cm. (13⅜ inches), mean diameter 32.5 cm. (12¾
inches); plain olla, height 32 cm. (12⅝ inches), mean diameter 32
cm. In both specimens the walls are slightly thickened at the brim,
those of the painted vessel measuring about 4 mm. and those of the
plain vessel about 4.5 to 5 mm. in thickness. Below the brim the walls
are thinned to about 3 mm., as is shown in the fractured neck of the
painted specimen. The capacity of these Seri vessels in proportion to
their weight, compared with that of typical examples of ware produced
by other desert peoples, is shown in the accompanying table.
Comparison of the mean ratios indicates that the Seri ware is almost
exactly twice as economical as that of the Pueblos—i. e., that
its capacity is twice as great in proportion to the weight of the
vessel; and that even the ware of the wide-wandering Papago is more
extravagant than that of the Seri in the ratio of 100 to 54. It is
noteworthy, too, that the typical Seri ware is much more uniform than
that of the other tribes; the various specimens seen in use at Costa
Rica, and nearly entire in various parts of Seriland, were closely
similar in form and nearly alike in dimensions; while the innumerable
smaller fragments scattered over Seriland and the neighboring
“despoblado” or buried amid the shells of Punta Antigualla correspond
precisely in thickness, in curvature, in material, and in finish with
the ware observed in use.
_Ratio of capacity to weight among Indian ollas_[269]
[269] In this table the ratio is expressed by the weight in kilograms
for each liter in capacity. The Papago and Pueblo specimens were
selected from typical material in the National Museum and at
random, save that in the Pueblo ollas choice was made of specimens
corresponding approximately in size with those of the Seri.
----------------+--------------+----------------+--------+------------
| Capacity | Weight | Ratio | Mean ratio
----------------+--------------+----------------+--------+------------
Seri: | _Liters_ | _Kilograms_ | |
Plain | 15.14 | 1.91 | 0.126 }
| | | } 0.137
Painted | 15.61 | 2.30 | .147 }
| | | |
Papago: | | | |
No. 1 | 17.03 | 4.08 | .239 }
| | | } .253
No. 2 | 8.51 | 2.38 | .279 }
| | | |
Sia | 15.14 | 3.82 | .252 }
Zuñi | 12.30 | 3.18 | .258 } .271
Acoma | 15.61 | 4.31 | .276 }
Hopi | 13.72 | 4.06 | .295 }
Neither the manufacture of the ware nor the sources of material have
been observed by Caucasians. Examination of the specimens indicates
that the material is a fine and somewhat micaceous clay, apparently an
adobe derived from granitoid rocks; and such material might be obtained
in various parts of Seriland. The structure of the ware reveals no
trace of coiling or other building process, nor does the texture
clearly attest the beating process employed by the Papago potters;
but there is a well-defined lamellar structure, and the surfaces
(especially inner) are striated circumferentially or spirally in such
manner as to suggest a process of rubbing under considerable pressure.
All the specimens are so asymmetric as to indicate the absence of
mechanical devices approaching the potter’s wheel, while the necks
are of such size as to admit the hand and forearm of an adult female
but not of a warrior. Some suggestion of the manufacturing process
is afforded by miniature fetishistic and mortuary specimens, such as
those depicted in figures 17 and 18, and the larger specimens shown
in figure 39, which were evidently shaped from lumps of suitable clay
first hollowed and then gradually expanded by manipulation with the
fingers, with little if any aid from implements of any sort. On putting
the various indications together it would seem probable that the ware
is made by the women, and that each piece is shaped from a lump of
tempered and well-kneaded clay of suitable size, first hollowed and
rudely shaped over one hand, and gradually expanded by spiral rubbing,
kneading, and pressure between the hands of the maker. The burning is
incomplete and variable, suggesting a little outdoor fire in a shallow
pit adapted to a single vessel. The ware is without glaze or slip
or other surficial treatment save that the lamellar texture is best
developed toward the surfaces; hence it is so porous that the filled
vessel is moist even in the sun.
[Illustration: FIG. 15—Seri olla ring.]
Ordinarily women are the water-bearers, each carrying an olla balanced
on the head with the aid of a slightly elastic annular cushion, usually
fashioned of yucca fiber (plate XXXII and figure 15), though in some
cases two ollas are slung in nets at the ends of a yoke (figure
16) after the Chinese coolie fashion (this device being apparently
accultural).
[Illustration: FIG. 16—Water-bearer’s yoke.]
The function of the conventional Seri olla is exclusively that of
a canteen or water-carrying vessel, and its form is suited to no
other use; while its lines, like its thinness of wall, are adapted
to the stresses of internal and external pressure in such wise as to
give maximum strength with minimum weight. It is by reason of this
remarkably delicate adaptation of materials to purposes that the plain
olla figured in plate XXXIII, weighing an ounce or two more than 10
pounds in dry air, holds and safely carries three and one-third times
its weight of water. When such ollas are broken, the larger pieces may
be used as cups or dishes, or even as kettles, in the rare culinary
operations of the tribe (as shown in plate X); but the entire vessels
appear to be religiously devoted to their primary purpose.
[Illustration: FIG. 17—Symbolic mortuary olla.]
While some three-fourths of the observed fictile ware of the Seri
and a still larger proportion of the scattered sherds represent
conventional ollas, there are a few erratic forms. The most conspicuous
of these is a smaller, thicker-walled, and larger-necked type, of
which three or four examples were observed; two of these were in use
(one is represented lying at the left of the jacal in plate X), and
another was found cracked and abandoned on the desert east of Playa
Noriega. The vessels of this type are used primarily as kettles and
only incidentally as canteens. In both form and function they suggest
accultural origin; but the ware is much like that of the conventional
type. Another erratic type takes the form of a deep dish or shallow
bowl, of rather thick walls and clumsy form, which may be accultural;
a single example was observed in use (it is shown in plate XIV). There
are also mortuary forms, including a miniature olla (figure 39) and
bowl (figure 41), and such still smaller examples as those illustrated
in figures 17 and 18. In addition to the utensils a few fictile
figurines were found. Most of these were crude or distorted animal
effigies, and one (broken) was a rudely shaped and strongly caricatured
female figure some 2 inches high, with exaggerated breasts and pudenda.
Analogy with neighboring tribes suggests that the very small vessels
and the figurines are fetishistic appurtenances to the manufacture
of the pottery; e. g., that the fetish is molded at the same time
and from the same material as the olla, and is then burned with it,
theoretically as an invocation against cracking or other injury, but
practically as a “draw-piece” for testing the progress of the firing.
[Illustration: FIG. 18—Symbolic mortuary dish.]
By far the most numerous of the utensils connected with potable water
are drinking-cups and small bowls or dishes; but these are merely
molluscan shells of convenient size, picked up alongshore, used once
or oftener, and either discarded or carried habitually without other
treatment than the natural wear of use (an example is illustrated in
figure 19). Larger bowls or trays are improvised from entire carapaces
of the tortoise (probably _Gopherus agassizii_), which are carried
considerable distances; and still larger emergency water-vessels
consist of carapaces of the green turtle (_Chelonia agassizii_),
laid inverted in the jacales; these shells also being used in natural
condition. No wrought shells, molluscan or chelonian, were observed
in use or found either in the jacales or on the hundreds of abandoned
sites; but the vicinage of the rancherias, the abandoned camps and
house sites, and the more frequented paths are bestrewn with slightly
worn shells, evidently used for a time and then lost or discarded. The
relative abundance of the fictile ware and this natural shell ware in
actual use is about 1:3; i. e., each adult female usually possesses
a single olla of the conventional type, and there may be one or two
extra ollas and two or three clay dishes in each band or clan, while
each matron or marriageable maid is usually supplied with two to four
shell-cups and each little girl with one or two; and there are twice
as many carapace trays as clay dishes. The disproportion of pottery
and shell about the abandoned sites is naturally much greater; for the
former is the most highly prized industrial possession of the women,
while the shells are easily gained and lightly lost.
[Illustration: FIG. 19—Shell-cup.]
* * * * *
With respect to solid food the Seri may be deemed omnivorous though
their adjustment to habitat is such that they are practically
carnivorous.
The most conspicuous single article in the dietary of the tribe is the
local green turtle. This chelonian is remarkably abundant throughout
Gulf of California; but its optimum habitat and breeding-place
would appear to be El Infiernillo, whose sandy beaches are probably
better adapted to egg laying and hatching than any other part of
the coast. Here it has been followed by the Seri; perhaps half of
the aggregate life of the tribe is spent within easy reach of its
feeding and breeding grounds, and tribesman and turtle have entered
into an inimical commonalty something like that of Siouan Indian and
buffalo in olden time, whereby both may benefit and whereby the more
intelligent communal certainly profits greatly. The flesh of the turtle
yields food; some of its bones yield implements; its carapace yields
a house covering, a convenient substitute for umbrella or dog-tent,
a temporary buckler, and an emergency tray or cistern, as well as a
comfortable cradle at the beginning of life and the conventional coffin
at its end; while the only native foot-gear known is a sandal made from
the integument of a turtle-flipper.
[Illustration: FIG. 20—Turtle-harpoon.]
Doubtless the eggs and newly hatched young of the turtle are eaten, and
analogy with other peoples indicates that the females are sometimes
captured at the laying grounds or on their way back to water; but
observation is limited to the taking of the adult animal at sea by
means of a specialized harpoon. A typical specimen of this apparatus,
as constructed since the introduction of flotsam iron, is illustrated
in figure 20. It comprises a point 3 or 4 inches long, made from a nail
or bit of stout wire, rudely sharpened by hammering the tip (cold)
between cobbles, and dislodging the loosened scales and splinters by
thrusts and twirlings in the ground; this is set firmly and cemented
with mesquite gum into a foreshaft of hard wood, usually 4 or 5
inches long, notched to receive a cord and rounded at the proximal
end; the rounded end of this foreshaft fits into a socket of the main
shaft, which may be either a cane-stalk (as shown in the figure) or a
section of mesquite root; while a stout cord is firmly knotted about
the foreshaft and either attached to the distal portion of the main
shaft or carried along it to the hand of the user. The main shaft is
usually 10 or 12 feet long, with the harpoon socket in the larger
end, and is manipulated by a fisherman sitting or standing on his
balsa. On catching sight of a turtle lying in the water, he approaches
stealthily, preferably from the rear yet in such wise as not to cast a
frightening shadow, sets the foreshaft in place, guides the point close
to the carapace, and then by a quick thrust drives the metal through
the shell. The frictional resistance between the chitin and the metal
holds the point in place, and although the foreshaft is jerked out at
the first movement of the transfixed animal the cord prevents escape;
and after partial tiring the turtle is either drowned or driven
ashore, or else lifted on the craft.[270] Immediately on landing the
quarry, the plastron is broken loose by blows of the hupf[271] and
torn off by vigorous wrenches of the warriors and their strong-taloned
spouses in the impetuous fury of a fierce blood-craze like that of
carnivorous beasts; the blood and entrails and all soft parts are at
once devoured, and the firmer flesh follows at a rate depending on the
antecedent hunger, both men and women crushing integument and tendon
and bone with the hupf, tearing other tissues with teeth and nails,
mouthing shreds from the shells, and gorging the whole ravenously if
well ahungered, but stopping to singe and smoke or even half roast
the larger pieces if nearer satiety. If the quarry is too large for
immediate consumption and not too far from a rancheria the remnants
(including head and flippers and shells) are hoisted to the top of the
jacal immediately over the open end—the conventional Seri larder—to
soften in the sun for hours or days; and on these tough and gamey
tidbits the home-stayers, especially the youths, chew luxuriously
whenever other occupations fail. In times of plenty, such sun-ripened
fragments of reeking feasts are rather generally appropriated first to
the children and afterward to the coyote-dogs; and it is a favorite
pastime of the toddlers to gather about an inverted carapace on hands
and knees, crowding their heads into its noisome depths, displacing the
rare scavenger beetles and blowflies of this arid province, mumbling at
the cartilaginous processes, and sucking and swallowing again and again
the tendonous strings from the muscular attachments, until, overcome
by fulness and rank effluvias, they fall asleep with their heads in
the trough—to be stealthily nudged aside by the cringing curs attached
to the rancheria. Commonly the carapace and the longer bones from
the flippers of the larger specimens are preserved entire for other
uses, and are cleaned only by teeth and talons and tongues, aided by
time but not by fire; but the plastron, unless broken up and consumed
immediately, is subjected to a cooking process in which it serves at
once as skillet and cutlet—it is laid on the fire, flesh side up, and
at intervals the shriveling tissues are clawed off and devoured, while
at last the scorched or charred scutes themselves are carried away to
be eaten at leisure.[272]
[270] A lively and explicit account of Seri turtle-fishing appears in
Hardy’s Travels in the Interior of Mexico, 1829, pp. 286-297: “Bruja’s
bay is of considerable extent, and there are from five to three fathoms
water close to Arnold’s island, in the neighborhood of which the
Indians catch abundance of turtle in a singular manner. I have already
described their canoes, which in Spanish are called ‘balsas’. An Indian
paddles himself from the shore on one of these by means of a long,
elastic pole of about 12 or 14 feet in length, the wood of which is the
root of a thorn called mesquite, growing near the coast; and although
the branches of this tree are extremely brittle, the underground roots
are as pliable as whalebone and nearly as dark in color. At one end
of this pole there is a hole an inch deep, into which is inserted
another bit of wood, in shape like an acorn, having a square bit of
iron 4 inches long fastened to it, the other end of the iron being
pointed. Both the _ball_ and _cup_ are first moistened and then tightly
inserted one within the other. Fastened to the iron is a cord of very
considerable length, which is brought up along the pole, and both are
held in the left hand of the Indian. So securely is the nail thus fixed
in the pole that although the latter is used as a paddle it does not
fall out.
“A turtle is a very lethargic animal, and may frequently be surprised
in its watery slumbers. The balsa is placed nearly perpendicularly over
one of these unsuspecting sleepers, when the fisherman, softly sliding
the pole through the water in the direction of the animal till within
a foot or two of it, he suddenly plunges the iron into its back. No
sooner does the creature feel itself transfixed than it swims hastily
forward and endeavors to liberate itself. The slightest motion of
the turtle displaces the iron point from the long pole, which would
otherwise be inevitably broken and the turtle would as certainly be
lost; but in the manner here described it is held by the cord fastened
on to the iron which has penetrated its back till, after it has
sufficiently exhausted its strength, it is hoisted on board the canoe
by the fisherman, who proceeds to the shore in order to dispose of his
prize.”
[271] The universal stone implement of the Seri, improvised from a
cobblestone and used in nearly every industrial occupation (see postea,
p. 235); the designation is mimetic, or onomatopoetic, from the sound
of the stroke, particularly on animal tissue.
[272] These details were furnished largely by Mashém and Señor
Encinas, but were verified in essentials by personal observation of
dietetic customs at Costa Rica in 1894; and they were corroborated by
observations on both shores of El Infiernillo and Bahia Kunkaak in
1895. Especially significant were the remnants of a turtle feast on
the southern beach of Punta Miguel interrupted by the approach of the
exploring party. The indications were clear that the turtle had been
landed and largely consumed before the fire was kindled, and that the
cooking of the firmer portions had hardly been commenced before the
camp was abandoned so hurriedly that not only the nearly eaten turtle
and the glowing embers, but the harpoon (the specimen illustrated in
figure 20), the still bloody and greasy hupf (that represented in plate
LIV), and the fire-sticks were left behind. Gnawed fragments of charred
plastrons are common relics about hastily abandoned camps generally.
Perhaps the most significant fact connected with the Seri
turtle-fishing is the excellent adaptation of means to ends. The
graceful and effective balsa is in large measure an appurtenance of
the industry; the harpoon is hardly heavier and is much simpler than a
trout-fishing tackle, yet serves for the certain capture of a 200-pound
turtle; and the art of fishing for a quarry so shy and elusive that
Caucasians may spend weeks on the shores without seeing a specimen is
reduced to a perfection even transcending that of such artifacts as
the light harpoon and fragile olla. Hardly less significant is the
nonuse of that nearly universal implement, the knife, in every stage
of the taking and consumption of the characteristic tribal prey; for
it may fairly be inferred that the comparative inutility of the knife
in dissevering the hard and horny chelonian derm, and the comparative
effectiveness of the shell-breaking and bone-crushing hupf, have
reacted cumulatively on the instincts of the tribe to retard the
adoption of cutting devices. Of much significance, too, is the limited
cooking process; for the habitual consumption of raw flesh betokens a
fireless ancestry at no remote stage, while the crude cooking of (and
in) that portion of the shell not consecrated to other uses might well
form the germ of broiling or boiling on the one hand and of culinary
utensils on the other hand. On the whole, the Seri turtle industry
indicates a delicate adjustment of both vital and activital processes
to a distinctive environment, in which the abundant chelonian fauna
ranks as a prime factor.
Analogy with other primitive peoples would indicate that the flesh of
the turtle is probably tabu to the Turtle clan, that the consumption
of the quarry is preceded by an oblation, and that there are seasonal
or other ceremonial rites connected with turtle-fishing; but no
information has been obtained on any of these points save a few vague
and unwilling suggestions from Mashém tending to establish the analogy.
Flotsam and stolen metal have played a rôle in the industries
of Seriland so long that it is difficult to learn much of the
turtle-fishing during premetal times; but an intimation from Mashém
that the old men thought it much better to take the turtle with the
teeth of an “animal that goes in the water”, and the similarity in
terms for “harpoon” (or arrow) and “teeth” both suggest that the
aboriginal point may have been a sea-lion tooth, and that the foreshaft
itself may have been a larger tooth of seal or cetacean. While the
modern harpoon is shaped with the aid of metal (hoop-iron, etc.),
the forms are quite evidently vestigial of knifeless manufacture, in
which a naturally rounded or abraded or fire-shaped foreshaft was
fitted into the natural socket afforded by a cane-stalk broken at its
weakest point—i. e., just below the joint; and both function and socket
arrangement (as well as the linguistic evidence) strongly suggest the
cylindrical tooth as the germ of the apparatus.
* * * * *
It is probable that water-fowl, considered collectively, stand second
in importance as Seri prey; and the foremost fowl is undoubtedly the
pelican, which serves not only as a fruitful food-supply but as the
chief source of apparel.
The principal haunt and only known breeding ground of the pelican in
the Gulf of California is Isla Tassne, an integral part of Seriland;
and while the great birds are doubtless taken occasionally in Bahia
Kunkaak, El Infiernillo, Bahia Tepoka, and other Seri waters, this
island is the principal pelican hunting ground. According to Mashém’s
account, the chase of the pelican here is a well-organized collective
process: at certain seasons, or at least at times deemed propitious
by the shamans, pelican harvests are planned; and after some days
of preparation a large party assemble at a certain convenient point
(presumably Punta Antigualla) and await a still evening in the dark
of the moon. When all conditions are favorable they set out for the
island at late twilight, in order that it may be reached after dark;
on approaching the shore the balsas are left in charge of the women,
while the warriors and the larger boys, armed only with clubs, rush on
the roosting fowls and slaughter them in great numbers—the favorite
coup de grâce being a blow on the neck. The butchery is followed by
a gluttonous feast, in which the half-famished families gorge the
tenderer parts in the darkness, and noisily carouse in the carnage
until overcome by slumber. Next day the matrons select the carcasses
of least injured plumage and carefully remove the skins, the requisite
incisions being made either with the edge of a shell-cup or with a
sharp sliver of cane-stalk taken from an injured arrow or a broken
balsa-cane. The feast holds for several days, or until the last bones
are picked and the whole party sated, when the clans scatter at will,
laden with skins and lethargic from the fortnight’s food with which
each maw is crammed.
Mashém’s recital gave no indication as to whether the Pelican clan
participate in the hunting orgies, though it clearly implies that the
chase and feast are at least measurably ceremonial in character; and
this implication was strengthened by the interest and comparative
vivacity awakened in the Seri bystanders by their spokesman’s frequent
interlocutions with them during the recital. Unfortunately the account
was not clear as to the seasons selected, though the expressions
indicated that the feasts are fixed for times at which the young are
fully fledged. It would seem inconceivable that the Seri, with their
insatiate appetite for eggs and tender young, should consciously
respect a breeding time or establish a closed season to perpetuate
any game; yet it is probable that the pelican is somehow protected in
such wise that it is not only not exterminated or exiled, but actually
fostered and cultivated. It is certain that the mythical Ancient of
Pelicans is the chief creative deity of Seri legend, and its living
representative the chief tutelary of one of the clans; it is certain,
too, that this fleshly fowl, sluggish and defenseless as it is on its
sleeping grounds, would be the easiest source of Seri food if it were
hunted indiscriminately; and it is no less certain that the omnivorous
tribesmen would quickly extinguish the local stock if they were to
make its kind, including eggs and young, their chief diet; yet it
survives in literal thousands to patrol the waters of all Seriland in
far-stretching files and vees seldom out of sight in suitable weather.
On the whole, it would seem evident that an interadjustment has grown
up between the tribesmen and their fish-eating tutelary during the
centuries, whereby the fowl is protected, albeit subconsciously only,
during the breeding seasons; and in view of other characteristics of
the tribe it would seem equally evident that the protection is in some
way effected by means of ceremonies and tabus.
Somewhat analogous, though apparently less ceremonial, expeditions are
made to Isla Patos and other points in search of ducks, and to Isla San
Esteban, and still more distant islands in search of eggs (preferably
near the hatching point) and nestlings; while the abundant waterfowl
of the region are sought in Rada Ballena and other sheltered bays, as
well as in such landlocked lagoons as those of Punta Miguel and Punta
Arena. This hunting involves the use of bows and arrows, though the
archery of the tribe pertains rather to the chase of larger land game,
and apparently attains its highest development in connection with
warfare. No specialized fowling devices have been observed among the
Seri; and their autonomous recitals, the facies of their artifacts, and
the observed habits of the tribe (especially the youth) with respect
to birds, all indicate that ordinary fowling holds a subordinate place
in Seri craft—i. e., that it is a fortuitous and emergency avocation,
rather than an organized art like turtle-fishing and water-carrying.
Concordantly, culinary processes are not normally employed in
connection with waterfowl, and the customary implements used for
incising the skin and severing other tissues are the shell-cup, which
is carried habitually for other purposes, the cane-splint, which
appears to be improvised on occasion, and never carried habitually, and
the ubiquitous hupf.
Probably second in importance among Seri prey, as a food-source merely,
stand the multifarious fishes with which the waters of Seriland teem,
particularly if the class be held to comprise the cetaceans and seals
and selachians ranked as leaders of the fish fauna in Seri lore.
Naturally, whales lie outside the ordinary range of Seri game, yet
they are not without place in the tribal economy. During the visit to
the Seri rancheria near Costa Rica in 1894, it was noted that various
events—births, deaths, journeys, etc.—were referred to “The Time of
the Big Fish”; and it was estimated from apparent ages of children
and the like that this chronologic datum might be correlated roughly
with the year 1887. The era-marking event was memorable to Mashém, to
the elderwomen of the Turtle clan, and to other mature members of the
group, because they had been enabled thereby to dispense with hunting
and fishing for an agreeably long time, and because they had moved
their houses; but the providential occurrence was not interpreted
at the time. On visiting Isla Tiburon in 1895, the interpretation
became clear; along the western shore of Rada Ballena, near the
first sand-spit north of the bight, lay the larger bones of a whale,
estimated from the length of the mandibles and the dimensions of the
vertebræ to have been 75 or 80 feet long. It was evident that the
animal had gone into the shoal water at exceptionally high tide and had
stranded during the ebb; while the condition of the bones suggested
an exposure to the weather of perhaps half a dozen years. On the
shrubby bank above the beach, hard by the bleaching skeleton, stood
the new rancheria, the most extensive seen in Seriland, comprising
some fifteen or twenty habitable jacales; and fragments of ribs and
other huge bones about and within the huts[273] attested transportation
thither after the building, while the shallowness of the trails and
the limited trampling of the fog shrubbery gave an air of freshness
to the site and surroundings. The traditions and the relics together
made it manifest that “The Time of the Big Fish” had indeed marked an
epoch in Seri life; that when the leviathan landed (whether through
accident or partly through efforts of balsa-men) it was quickly
recognized as a vast contribution to the Seri larder; and that some of
the clans, if not the entire tribe, gathered to gorge first flesh and
blubber, next sun-softened cartilage and chitin, and then epiphyses
and the fatter bones. Some of the ribs were splintered and crushed,
evidently by blows of the hupf, in order to give access to the
cancellate interiors; several of the vertebræ were battered and split,
and nearly all of the bones bore marks of hupf blows, aimed to loosen
cartilaginous attachments, start epiphyses, or remove spongy and greasy
processes. Little trace of fire was found; in one case a mandible was
partly scorched, though the burning appeared to be fortuitous and
long subsequent to the removal of the flesh; and a bit of charred and
gnawed epiphysis, much resembling the fragments of half-cooked turtle
plastron scattered over Seriland, was picked up in one of the huts.
The condition of the remains and the various indications connected
with the rancheria corroborated the tradition that the great creature
had afforded unlimited and acceptable food for many moons; and various
expressions of the tradition indicated that the event, though the most
memorable of its class, was not unique in Seri lore.
[273] One of the smaller vertebræ and part of a rib are shown in the
upper figure of plate vi.
A few bones and fragments of skin of the seal were found in and about
the rancherias on Isla Tiburon, and an old basket rebottomed with
sealskin was picked up in a recently abandoned jacal on Rada Ballena;
a few bones provisionally identified with the porpoise (which haunts
Boco Infierno in shoals) were also found amid the refuse about the
old rancheria at the base of the long sand-spit terminating in Punta
Tormenta; but nothing was learned specifically concerning the chase
and consumption either of these animals or of the abundant sharks from
which the island is named.
[Illustration: FIG. 21—Fish-spearhead.]
Among the exceedingly limited food supplies brought from the coast by
the Seri group at Costa Rica in 1894, were rank remnants of partly
desiccated fish, usually gnawed down to heads and tails; and Mashém and
others spoke of fish as a habitual food, while Señor Encinas regarded
it as the principal element of the tribal dietary. The harder bones and
heavier scales of several varieties of fish were also found abundantly
among the middens of both mainland and Tiburon shores in 1895. None
of the remains bore noticeable traces of fire; and all observations,
including those of Señor Encinas, indicate that the smaller varieties
of fish are habitually eaten raw, either fresh or partially dried,
according to the state of appetite at the time of taking—or the
condition of finding when picked up as beach flotsam. But a single
piscatorial device was observed, i. e., the barbed point and foreshaft,
shown in figure 21—the iron point being, of course, accultural, and
probably obtained surreptitiously. This harpoon, which measures 6
inches in length over all, is designed for use in connection with the
main shaft of a turtle-catching tackle; and it is evidently intended
for the larger varieties, perhaps porpoises or sharks. In 1827 Hardy
observed a related device:
They have a curious weapon which they employ for catching fish.
It is a spear with a double point, forming an angle of about
5°. The insides of these two points, which are 6 inches long,
are jagged, so that when the body of a fish is forced between
them, it can not get away on account of the teeth.[274]
[274] Travels, p. 290*.
Don Andrés Noriega, of Costa Rica, described repeatedly and
circumstantially a method of obtaining fish by aid of pelicans, in
which a young or crippled fowl was roped to a shrub or stone, to be
fed by his fellows; when at intervals a youth stole out to rob the
captive’s pouch. At first blush this device would seem to rise above
the normal industrial plane of the Seri and to lie within the lower
stages of zooculture, like the cormorant fishing of China if not the
hawking of medieval Europe; yet on the whole it may be deemed fairly
consistent with that cruel yet mutually beneficial toleration between
tribesmen and pelicans attested by the preservation of the avian
communal, as already noted. Moreover, Don Andrés observations are
in accord with early notes of the exceedingly primitive aborigines
of California, from whom the Seri have undoubtedly borrowed various
cultural suggestions; thus Venegas quotes Padre Torquemada as saying:
I accidentally found a gull tied with a string and one of his
wings broke. Around this maimed bird lay heaps of excellent
pilchards, brought thither by its companions; and this, I
found, was a stratagem practiced by the Indians to procure
themselves a dish of fish; for they lie concealed while the
gulls bring these charitable supplies, and when they think that
little more is to be expected they seize upon the contributions.
The padre says also of these gulls that “they have a vast craw, which
in some hangs down like the leather bottles used in Peru for carrying
water, and in it they put their captures to carry them to their young
ones”—from which it is evident that he refers to the pelican. Venegas
adds, “Such are the mysterious ways of Providence for the support of
his creatures!”[275] And in the margin of his accompanying “Mapa de la
California”, he introduces a vigorous picture of a captive fowl, its
free fellow, and the mess of fish, the cut being headed “Alcatrazes”
(pelicans).
[275] History of California, 1789, vol. I, p. 41.
Despite these devices, the dearth of fishing-tackle among the Seri
is evidently extreme. Save in the single specimen figured, no
piscatorial apparatus of any sort was found among the squalid but
protean possessions at the Costa Rica rancheria; neither nets nor
hooks nor rods nor lines nor any other device suitable for taking
the finny game were found in the scores of jacales containing other
artifacts on Tiburon; while Señor Encinas was conversant only with
the simple method of taking fish by hand from the pools and shallows
left by receding breakers or ebbing tides. This dearth of devices is
significantly harmonious with other Seri characteristics: it accords
with the leading place assigned the turtle in their industry and their
lore; it is in harmony with that primitive and nonmechanical instinct
which leads them to rely on bodily strength and skill and swiftness
rather than on extra-corporeal artifacts in their crude and incomplete
conquest of nature; and it is a manifest expression of relation with
their distinctive physical environment—for the ever-thundering breakers
of their gale-swept coast are abundant, albeit capricious, bringers of
living grist, while the offshore gales at low tide lay bare hundreds of
acres of shoaler bottoms literally writhing with fishes stranded among
beds of mollusks and slimy with the abounding plankton of a fecund
coast. The region is one of ample, albeit lowly, food supply, where
every experience tends toward inert reliance on providential chance,
and where the stimulus of consistently conscious necessity seldom stirs
the inventive faculty.
* * * * *
Closely connected with fish as a Seri food-source are the various
molluscan and crustacean forms collectively called shellfish; and these
contribute a considerable share of the sustenance of the tribe.
Apparently the most important constituent of this class of foods is
the Pacific coast clam, which abounds in the broad mud-flats bordering
Laguna La Cruz and other lagoons of Seriland, and which was still more
abundant during a subrecent geologic epoch, to judge from the immense
accumulation of the shells in Punta Antigualla. The clams are usually
taken at low tide, without specialized apparatus. They are located by
feeling with the feet in shallow water, and caught either with toes or
with fingers, to be tossed into any convenient receptacle. When the
water is entirely withdrawn from the flats, they are located by means
of their holes, and are extricated either with a shell-cup or with some
other improvised implement. Frequently the entire mess is thrown into
a fire until the shells open, when they are withdrawn and the mollusks
devoured practically raw; perhaps more commonly the shells are opened
by blows of the hupf, and eaten without semblance of cooking; and,
except on the surface, no trace of roasting was found among the vast
accumulations of shells in Punta Antigualla.
Perhaps second to the clam in frequency of use is the local oyster,
which abounds about the more sheltered shores of Tiburon. It is
gathered with the hands, aided perhaps by a stone or stick for
dislodging the shells either from the extended offshore beds at extreme
low water, or from the roots of a mangrove-like shrub at a medium
stage. The shells, like those of the clam, are frequently opened by
partial roasting; and shells, sometimes scorched, are extensively
scattered over the interior, indicating that the oyster is a favorite
portable food. The popularity of this bivalve is shared by the
Noah’s-ark (_Arca_), to which some mystical significance is apparently
ascribed; and the abundant limpets and bivalves and other mollusks are
eaten indiscriminately, to judge from the abundance of their shells in
the middens. The ordinary crab, too, is a favorite article of food, and
its claws are numerous in camp and house refuse; while the lobster-like
deep-water crab is introduced into the menu whenever brought to the
surface by storms, as shown by its massive remains in the middens.
On the whole, shellfish form a conspicuous factor in Seri economy
by reason of the considerable consumption of this class of food;
but, viewed in the broader industrial aspect, the produce is notably
primitive, and significant chiefly as indicating the dearth of
mechanical and culinary devices.
While by far the larger share of Seri sustenance is drawn from the sea,
a not inconsiderable portion is derived from the land; for the warriors
and striplings and even the women are more skilful hunters than fishers.
The larger objects of the feral chase are deer of two or three species
(the bura, or mule-deer, being most conspicuous and easiest taken),
antelope, and mountain sheep; to which the puma, the jaguar, and
perhaps two or three other carnivores might be added. The conventional
method of taking the bura and other deer is a combination of stalking
and coursing, usually conducted by five of the younger warriors,
though three or four may serve in emergency; any excess over five
being regarded as superfluous, or as a confession of inferiority. The
chase is conducted in a distinctly ceremonial and probably ritualistic
fashion, even when the finding of the game is casual, or incidental to
a journey: at sight of the quarry, the five huntsmen scatter stealthily
in such manner as partially to surround it; when it takes fright one
after the other strives to show himself above the shrubbery or dunes
in order to break its line of flight into a series of zigzags; and
whether successful in this effort or not they keep approximate pace
with it until it tires, then gradually surround it, and finally rush
in to either seize it in their hands or cripple it with clubs—though
the latter procedure is deemed undignified, if not wrong, and hardly
less disreputable than complete failure. When practicable the course is
laid toward the rancheria or camp; and in any event the ideal finish
is to bring the animal alive into the family group, where it maybe
dissected by the women, and where the weaklings may receive due share
of the much-prized blood and entrails. The dissection is merely a
ravenous rending of skin and flesh, primarily with the teeth (perhaps
after oblique bruising or tearing by blows with the hupf over strongly
flexed joints), largely with hands and fingers aided anon by a foot
planted on the carcass, and partly with some improvised device, such as
a horn or tooth of the victim itself, the serrated edge of a shell-cup,
or perhaps a sharp-edged cane-splint from a broken arrow carried for
emergency’s sake. Commonly the entire animal, save skin and harder
bones, is gulped at a sitting in which the zeal of the devotee and the
frenzy of the carnivore blend; but in case the group is small and the
quarry large, the sitting is extended by naps or prolonged slumberings,
and the more energetic squaws may even trouble to kindle a fire and
partially cook the larger joints, thereby inciting palled appetite to
new efforts. Finally the leg bones are split for the marrow and their
ends preserved for awls; the horns are retained by the successful
huntsmen as talisman-trophies; while the skin is stretched in the
desert sun, scratched and gnawed free of superfluous tissue, rubbed
into partial pliability, and kept for bedding or robe or kilt.
The chase of the hare is closely parallel to that of the deer save
that it is conducted by striplings, who thereby serve apprenticeship
in hunting and at the same time enrich the tribal larder with a game
beneath the dignity of the warriors; while still smaller boys similarly
chase the rabbit, which is commonly scorned by the striplings. The
conventional hare-hunting party is three, and it is deemed disreputable
to increase this number greatly. The youths spread at sight of the game
and seek to surround it, taking ingenious and constant advantage of the
habit of the hare to run obliquely or in zigzags to survey more readily
the source of its fright; for some time they startle it but slightly
by successive appearances at a distance, but gradually increase its
harassment until it bounds hither and thither in terror, when they
rapidly close in and seize it, the entire chase commonly lasting but a
few minutes. The quarry is customarily taken alive to camp, where it is
quickly rent to fragments and the entrails and flesh and most of the
bones consumed; the skin usually passes into possession of a matron for
use as infantile clothing or cradle bedding, while the ears are kept by
the youth who first seized the game until his feat is eclipsed by some
other event—unless chance hunger sooner tempts him to transmute his
trophy into pottage.
While the collective, semiceremonial style of chase alone is thoroughly
good form in Seri custom, it is often rendered impracticable by the
scattering of the tribe in separate families or small bands, in
which case the bura and its associates, like the larger carnivores
customarily, are taken by strategy rather than by strength. This form
of chase is largely individual; in it archery plays a leading rôle;
and in it, too, ambuscade, stealthy lying in wait, and covert assault
attain high development. It is closely analogous with the warfare
typical of the tribe; and it is especially noteworthy as one of the
most effective stimuli to intellectual activity, and hence to the
development of invention—if the term may be applied to industrial
products so lowly as those of the Seri.
The chief artifact produced by the strategic chase on land would seem
to be the analogue of the harpoon used at sea, i. e., the arrow. This
weapon is one of the three or four most highly differentiated and
thoroughly perfected of the Seri artifacts, ranking with canteen-olla
and balsa, and perhaps outranking the turtle-harpoon. It is fabricated
with great care and high skill, and with striking uniformity in
details of material and construction. A typical example is 25 inches
in length and consists of three pieces—point, foreshaft, and main
shaft (feathered toward the nock). The foreshaft is 8½ inches long,
of hard wood carefully ground by rubbing with quartzite or pumice
into cylindrical form, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter at
the larger end and tapering slightly toward the point; the larger
end is extended by careful grinding into a tang which is fitted into
the main shaft, the joint being neatly wrapped with sinew. This main
shaft is a cane-stalk (_Phragmites communis?_) 15 or 16 inches long,
carefully selected for size and well straightened and smoothed; it is
feathered with three equidistantly-placed wing-feathers of hawk or
falcon, neatly prepared by removing a thin strip of the rachis bearing
the wider vexillum and attaching it by sinew wrappings at both ends,
the feathers being about 5½ inches in length. The nock is a simple
rounded notch, placed just below a joint and supported by the sinew
ferrule; there is no foot-plug. The favorite point is a bit of flotsam
hoop-iron, ground into elongate triangular shape with projecting barbs,
and a short tang or shank fitted into a shallow notch in the foreshaft,
cemented there with mesquite gum, and finally fixed firmly with sinew
wrappings. A typical iron-point arrow, with bow and quiver, is depicted
in plate XXX. Alternative points are of rudely chipped stone (two
examples are illustrated in figure 37) somewhat clumsily attached to
the foreshaft by mesquite gum and sinew wrapping; while the arrows used
by boys and hunters of small game are usually pointless, the tip of
the foreshaft being sharpened and hardened by slight charring. In some
of the arrows, especially those designed for use in war, the foreshaft
is notched, or else loosely attached to the main shaft, in order that
it may be detached from the main shaft and remain in the body of enemy
or prey. The foreshaft is commonly painted some bright color (red
is prevalent), while the points and attachments of the “poisoned”
specimens are smeared with some greasy substance.
The aboriginal Seri arrow has undoubtedly been modified during the
centuries since the coming of Cortés and Mendoza with their metal-armed
troopers; yet certain inferences as to the indigenous form of the
weapon are easily drawn from its construction and the homologies of its
parts.
The first feature of the artifact to attract attention is the
relative clumsiness of attachment and frequent absence of points. The
chipped-stone points are so rude as to be quite out of harmony with the
otherwise delicately wrought and graceful arrow, while the attachment
is strikingly rude; and it is still more noteworthy that the very name
for stone arrowpoint was little understood at Costa Rica, and was
obtained only after extended inquiry and repeated conferences among
the older informants. Even the attachment of the effective points made
from hoop-iron is bad constructionally; the sinew wrapping is carried
around the entire blade in such manner as to sheathe the sharply ground
edges and itself be cut on contact with firm tissue; and the fitting
and wrapping are so rude as to be incongruous with the rest of the
apparatus. On the whole the suggestion is strong that the arrowpoint
is accultural—and this suggestion is further strengthened by the
very existence of the practically functionless, and hence manifestly
vestigial, hard-wood foreshaft. Turning to the structural homologies,
the observer is at once struck with the parallelism running through
the three most conspicuous compound artifacts found among the Seri,
i. e., the harpoon, the fire-drill, and the arrow. All of these alike
consist of two essential parts, main shaft and foreshaft; all are akin
in function even in the superficial view of the Caucasian, and are
much more closely related in primitive thought—indeed the fire-drill
is but a featherless and nockless arrow, with the foreshaft charred at
its fire-giving tip; and all are closely linked in language and allied
with other terms in such wise as practically to establish identity
among them in the thinking of their lowly makers (though unfortunately
the incomplete vocabularies extant are insufficient for full study
of the linguistic homologies). Briefly the indications are that the
harpoon was the primary device, and that its foreshaft was a tooth of
an aquatic fish-eater like the seal, or perchance in some cases an os
penis; that its lineal successor was a loose-head lance for use on sea
and land, at first with the unaided hand and later with the atlatl, or
throwing-stick (the lance being now extinct, though recorded by early
visitors to Seriland); that the next artifact-generation in the direct
line was represented by the arrow, foreshafted with hard wood or tooth,
made light and graceful and loose-headed or not, according to needs,
and by the substitution of bow for atlatl; and that a somewhat aberrant
line was marked by the taming of fire, its reproduction by the modified
arrow, and the differentiation of fire-stick from arrow and either
atlatl or bow.
In tracing these stages in technologic growth, it is to be remembered
that the Seri are so primitive as to betray some of the very beginnings
of activital concepts; that to them zoic potencies are the paramount
powers of the cosmos; that in their simple thought fire is a bestial
rather than a physical phenomenon; that in their naive philosophy the
production of devouring flame is of a kind with vital birth and a
similitude of sexual reproduction; and that according to their notions
the conquest of quarry, including fire, is made practicable only by
aid of the mystical potencies of beasts and flames gained through
invocatory use of symbols or actual organs.
In the Seri tongue the term “fire-drill” is _kaak_, an indefinite
generic meaning “kind” or “strong kind”, with an egocentric connotation
(“Our-Strong-Kind”), as in the proper tribal designation _Kun-kaak_
or _Km-kaak;_ while the term for the nether fire-stick or hearth is
either _maam_ (“woman”, or more properly “mother”), or else (and
more commonly) _kaak-maam_, which may be rendered “Kind-Mother”—the
“Kind”, as among primitive folk generally, comprising both men and
tutelary beasts, and in this case fire as the most mysterious of the
beasts; there is thus a suggestive analogy between the designation
for the fire-producing apparatus and that for the tribe itself. It
should be noted that the zoic concept of fire is widespread among the
more primitive peoples of various provinces, and sometimes persists in
recognizable form in higher culture (witness the fire-breathing dragons
of various mythologies, the “Red Flower” notion gathered in India by
Kipling, etc.); also that the ascription of sex to the fire-sticks is
prevalent among North American tribes, and at once helps to interpret
the development of the fire-drill, fire-syringe, and other primitive
devices, such, for example, as those so fully described by Hough,[276]
and serves to explain the otherwise obscure genesis of the fire-sense,
which must have accompanied and shaped that most significant of all
steps in human progress, the conquest of fire.
[276] Fire-making apparatus in the U. S. National Museum; Smithsonian
Report for 1888, pt II, 1890, pp. 531-587, and elsewhere.
The modern coordinate of the Seri arrow is the bow, made preferably
from a straight and slender branch of the palo blanco. A typical
specimen is illustrated in plate XXX; it is 4 feet 9½ inches long,
with the outer face convex and the inner face flat; greatest width
1¾ inches, narrowed to 1⅛ inches at the hand-hold; thickness at the
hand-hold 1 inch, thinning to five-eighths inch at 8 inches from this
point; tapering gradually in both dimensions toward the extremities,
which are rudely notched to receive the cord (of mesquite-root fiber).
The specimen illustrated has been cracked and repaired in two places;
in one place the repair was effected by a rough wrapping of sinew, and
in the other by slipping over the wood a natural sheath of rawhide
from the leg of a deer. The specimen is of added interest in that it
combines bow and nether fire-stick (“Strong-Kind-Mother”), one of the
friction holes being worn out to the notched margin, and the other
remaining in usable condition, as shown in the enlarged marginal
drawing.[277]
[277] Ordinarily the nether fire-stick is of soft and porous wood,
flotsam palm-wood and water-logged pine being preferred.
Compared with the delicately finished and graceful arrow, the typical
bow is a rude and clumsy device; it displays little skill in the
selection and shaping of material, and evidently involves little labor
in manufacture—indeed, the indications are that more actual labor is
spent in the construction of a single arrow than in the making of a
bow, while the arrow-making is expert work, betokening craft of a high
order, and the bow-making little more than simple handiwork of the
lowest order. The comparison affords some indication of the genesis
of Seri archery, and at the same time corroborates the independent
suggestion that the arrow is of so much greater antiquity than the bow
as to represent a distinct stage in cultural development—though the
precise cultural significance of the bow is not easily ascertained.
Efforts were made to have different Seri warriors at Costa Rica in
1894 assume the normal archery attitude, with but moderate success,
the best pose obtained (illustrated in plate XXVIII) being manifestly
unnatural and a mere reflection of the attitude in the mind of the
Caucasian poser; while the results of inquiries served only to indicate
that the normal archery attitude was purposely avoided for reasons not
ascertained. Fortunately another observer was more successful: in the
course of the United States hydrographic surveys in 1873, Commander
(now Admiral) Dewey received several visits from Seri warriors on board
the _Narragansett_; and on the occasion of one of these visits, Mr
Hector von Bayer, of the hydrographic party, caught a photograph of an
archer in the act of drawing his bow. The negative was accidentally
shattered, and no prints are known to have been made from it; but the
fragments were carefully joined, and were kindly transferred to the
Bureau by Mr Von Bayer in 1897, and from them plate XXIX was carefully
drawn. The posture (partly concealed by the drapery) is extraordinary,
being quite beyond the reach of the average human, and impossible of
maintenance for any considerable interval even by the well-wonted
Seri. The posture itself partly explains the difficulty of inducing
the warriors at Costa Rica to assume it, since it is essentially a
fleeting one, and indeed but a part of a continuous and stressful
action—it is no less difficult to assume, or to catch in the camera,
than the typical attitude of a baseball pitcher in action. The posture
thus fortunately caught is quite in accord with the accounts of Seri
archery from the esoteric side given by Mashém, and with the exoteric
observations of Señor Encinas, Don Andrés, and others; for all accounts
agree in indicating that the archer commonly rests inert and moveless
as the watching feline up to a critical instant, then springs into
movement as swiftly as the leaping jaguar, and hurls, rather than
shoots, one, two, or three arrows before rushing in to the death or
skulking to cover as the issue may require.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVIII
SERI ARCHER AT REST]
The Seri archery habit is in every way consistent with the general
habits of the tribe, alike in the chase and in warfare, in which the
tribesmen, actuated by the fierce blood-craze common to carnivores,
either leap on their prey with purpling eyes and gnashing teeth, or
beat quick and stealthy retreat; and it is especially significant
in the light thrown on the bow as a device for swift and vigorous
rather than accurate offense, an apparatus for lengthening the arm
still more than does the harpoon, and at the same time strengthening
and intensifying its stroke. The quick-changing attitudes of half
hurling are equally suggestive of the use of the atlatl, and support
Cushing’s hypothesis[278] that the bow was derived from the corded
throwing-stick. While the critical posture of Seri archery is unique in
degree if not in kind in the western hemisphere, so far as is known,
an approximation to it (illustrated in fig. 22) has been observed in
Central Africa.[279] On the whole the Seri mode of using the bow, like
its crude form and rude finish, indicates that it is a relatively new
and ill-developed artifact, possibly accultural though more probably
joined indigenously with the archaic arrow to beget a highly effective
device for food-getting as well as for warfare; while the genetic
stages are still displayed not only in the homologies between arrow and
harpoon, but by the common functions of both arrow and bow with the
fire-sticks.
[278] The Arrow; Proceedings Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., vol. XLIV, 1895, pp.
232-240.
[279] Glave’s Journey to the Livingston Tree, The Century Magazine,
vol. LII, 1896, p. 768.
Concordantly, as indicated by the use of the archery apparatus, the
individual taking of large game is effected either by stealthy stalking
or by patient ambuscade ended by a sudden rush; when, if the chase is
successful, the quarry is rent and consumed as at the finish of the
semiceremonial collective chase. The fleet but wary antelope, the
pugnacious peccary, the wandering puma and jaguar, and the mountain
sheep of the rocky fastnesses, are among the favorite objects of this
style of chase; while the larger land birds and some of the water-fowl
are taken in similar fashion.
[Illustration: FIG. 22—African archery posture.]
The smaller land game comprises a tortoise or two, all the local
snakes and lizards, and a good many insects, besides various birds,
including hawks and owls, as well as the eaters of seeds and insects.
The crow and vulture are also classed as edible, though they are rare
in Seriland, probably because of the effective scavengering of the
province by its human residents. It is a significant fact that the
smaller rodents, especially the long-tail nocturnal squirrel, are
excluded from the Seri menu by a rigidly observed tabu of undiscovered
meaning. A general consequence of this tabu is readily observed on
entering Seriland; there is a notable rarity of the serpents, the
high-colored and swift efts, and the logy lizards and dull phrynosomas
so abundant in neighboring deserts, as well as of song birds and their
nests; and this dearth is coupled with a still more notable abundance
of the rodents, which have increased and multiplied throughout Seriland
so abundantly that their burrows honeycomb hundreds of square miles
of territory. A special consequence of the tabu is found in the fact
that the myriad squirrel tunnels have rendered much of the territory
impassable for horses and nearly so for pedestrians, and have thereby
served to repel invaders and enable the jealous tribesmen to protect
their principality against the hated alien. Seriland and the Seri are
remarkable for illustrations of the interdependence between a primitive
folk and their environment; but none of the relations are more striking
than that exemplified by the timid nocturnal rodent, which, protected
by a faith, has not only risen to the leading place in the local fauna,
but has rewarded its protectors by protecting their territory for
centuries.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXIX
SERI ARCHER AT ATTENTION]
In both the collective and the strategic chase, constant advantage
is taken of weakness and incapacity, whether temporary or permanent,
of the prospective quarry; so that diseased and wounded as well as
sluggish and stupid animals are eliminated. The effect of this policy
on the fauna is undoubtedly to extinguish the less capable species
and to stimulate and improve the more capable; i. e., the presence of
the human factor merely intensifies the bitter struggle for existence
in which the subhuman things of this desert province are engaged.
At the same time, the entrance of the human folk into the struggle
characteristic of subhuman species serves to bar them from one of the
most helpful ways to the advancement of their kind—i. e., the way
leading through cotoleration with animals to perfected zooculture. The
most avidly sought weaklings in the Seri chase are the helpless young,
and the heavily gravid dams which are pursued and rent to fragments
with a horrid fury doubtless reflecting the practical certainty of
capture and the exceptionally succulent tidbits afforded by the
fetal flesh; naturally the cruel custom reacts on habitual thought
in such wise that the very sight of pregnancy or travail or newborn
helplessness awakens slumbering blood-thirst and impels to ferocious
slaughter. To such custom and deep-planted mental habit may be
ascribed some of the most shocking barbarities in the history of Seri
rapine, tragedies too terrible for repetition save in bated breath of
survivors, yet explaining the utter horror in which the Seri marauder
is held on his own frontier. At the same time the hunting custom and
the mental habit explain the blindness of the Seri to the rudiments of
zooculture, and clarify their intolerance of all animal associates,
save the sly coyote that habitually hides its travail and suckling in
the wilderness, and perhaps the deified pelican.[280]
[280] A single incident expressing the Seri sentiment toward travailing
animals must be noted: a few minutes after the group shown in plate
XI was photographed, a starveling cur—a female apparently of nearly
pure coyote blood and within a week of term—slunk toward the broken
olla-kettle in the left center of the picture, in which a rank
horse-foot was simmering; the woman bending over the kettle suddenly
straightened and shot out her foot with such force and directness that
the cur was lifted entirely over the corner of the nearest jacal,
and the poor beast fell stunned and moaning, a prematurely born pup
protruding from her two-thirds of its length. The sound of the stroke
and fall attracted attention throughout the group; the women smiled and
grunted approval of the well-aimed kick, and a dozen children gathered
to continue the assault. Partially recovering, the cur struggled to its
feet and started for the chapparal, followed by the jeering throng; at
first the chase seemed sportive only, but suddenly one of the smaller
boys (the third from the left in the group shown in plate XVI) took on
a new aspect—his figure stiffened, his jaws set, his eyes shot purple
and green, and he plunged into the lead, and just before the harried
beast reached cover he seized the protruding embryo, jerked it away,
and ran off in triumph. Three minutes afterward he was seen in the
shelter of a jacal greedily gorging his spoil in successive bites, just
as the Caucasian boy devours a peeled banana. Meanwhile, two or three
mates who had struck his trail stood around begging bites and sucking
at chance blood spatters on earth, skin, or tattered rags; and as the
victor came forth later, licking his chops, he was met by half jocular
but admiring plaudits for his prowess from the dozen matrons lounging
about the neighboring jacales. Parallel instances, both observed and
gathered at second hand, might be added in numbers; but this may
suffice as the sole specific basis for the generalization which places
the Seri below the plane of possible zooculture—a generalization so
broad as to demand some record of data which it would be more agreeable
to ignore.
Parallel to the chase of the larger land game is the hunting of horses
and other imported stock; for the animals are regarded in no other
light than that of easy quarry. The horses of the Seri frontier, like
those of wild ranges generally, are strongly gregarious, and the herds
are well regimented under recognized leaders, so that the chase of
their kind is necessarily collective on the part of both hunters and
game; and the favorite method is for a considerable group of either
warriors or women to surround the entire herd, or a band cut out from
it, “mill” them (i. e., set them running in a gradually contracting
circle) and occasionally dash on an animal, promising by reason of
exceptional fatness or gravidness. The warrior’s customary clutch is
by the mane or foretop with one hand and the muzzle with the other,
with his weight thrown largely on the neck, when a quick wrench throws
the animal, and, if all goes well, breaks its neck;[281] while the
huntress commonly aims to stun the animal with a blow from her hupf.
In either case the disposition of the carcass is similar to that of
other large quarry, save that thought is given to the danger of ensuing
attack by vaqueros; so that it is customary to consume at once only
the blood and pluck, and if time permits the paunch and intestines
with their contents, and then to rend the remainder into quarters,
which warriors or even women shoulder and rush toward their stronghold.
Burros (which, next to the green turtle, afford the favorite Seri
food) and horned cattle are commonly stalked and slain, or, at least,
wounded with arrows, so that it is commonly the stragglers that are
picked off; though sometimes several animals are either milled or
rushed, and thrown by a strong wrench on the horns or stunned with
a blow of war-club or hupf, as conditions may demand. Straggling swine
and wandering dogs are occasionally ambushed or stalked and transfixed
with arrows, torn hurriedly into fragments, or shouldered and carried
off struggling, as exigency may require; while sheep and goats are
practically barred from the entire Seri frontier because of their utter
helplessness in the face of so hardy huntsmen.
[281] This warrior’s clutch, and the notion that it is discreditable
if not criminal for the masculine adult to take recourse to weapons in
hand-to-hand slaughter, are strongly suggestive of zoomimic motives and
of studied mimicry of the larger carnivores, such as the jaguar—the
“neck-twister” of the Maya.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXX
SERI BOW, ARROW, AND QUIVER]
The quantity of stock consumed by the Seri varies greatly with the
policy of rancheros and vaqueros. At different times during the last
two and a half centuries it has been estimated that the chief portion
of the subsistence of the tribe was derived from stolen stock, and it
is probable that during the early period of the Encinas régime this
estimate was fair; but under the Draconian rule of a Seri head for
each head of slaughtered stock, the consumption is reduced to a few
dozen head annually, including superannuated, crippled, and diseased
animals unable to keep up with the herds, those bogged in Playa Noriega
and other basins during freshets, the stallions and bulls slain in
strife for leadership of their bands, and the festering or semimummied
carcasses gladly turned over by idle rancheros on the chance visits
of Seri bands to the frontier (such as the specimen in the photograph
reproduced in figure 23).
[Illustration: FIG. 23—Desiccated pork.]
No special devices have been developed in connection with the chase
for stock, nor has material progress been made in acquiring Caucasian
devices. There are, indeed, indications of a disposition to use knives
in severing the tough integuments and tendons of horses and kine,
although the tendency has not yet resulted (as elsewhere noted, ante,
pp. 152*-154*) in the development of a knife-sense; and although boys
on the frontier play at roping dogs, no effort to use the riata or
any form of rope is made in the actual chase. As naively explained by
Mashém amid approving grunts from his clan-mates, they have no time for
ropes or knives when hungry.
* * * * *
A quantitatively unimportant yet by no means negligible fraction of the
normal diet of Seriland is vegetal; and while the sources of vegetal
food are many and diverse, the chief constituent is a single product
characteristic of American deserts, viz., the tuna, or prickly pear.
All of the cacti of the region yield tunas in considerable quantity.
The pitahaya is perhaps the most abundant producer, and its name is
often given to the fruit; the huge saguaro affords an enormous annual
yield, and the still more gigantic saguesa is even more prolific,
especially in its immense forests along the eastern base of Sierra
Seri; the cina adds materially to the aggregate product, while the
nopal, or common prickly pear, contributes a quota acquiring importance
from the facility with which it may be harvested. The fruits of all
these cacti are sometimes classed as sweet tunas, in contradistinction
from the sour tunas yielded in great abundance by the cholla and
consumed with avidity by stock, though seldom eaten by men. The edible
tunas average about the size of lemons, and resemble figs save that
their skin is beset with prickles. The portion eaten is a luscious
pulp, filled with minute seeds like those of the fig save that they
are too hard for mastication or digestion, its flavor ranging from the
sickly sweet of the overcultivated fig to a pleasant acidity. While
occasional tunas may be found at any time during the year, the normal
harvest occurs about midsummer, or shortly before the July-August
humid season, and lasts for several weeks. During the height of the
season the clans withdraw from the coast and give undivided attention
to the collection and consumption of the fruits, gorging them in such
quantities that, according to the testimony of the vaqueros, they are
fattened beyond recognition. Commonly the tunas are eaten just as
they are gathered, and the families and larger bands move about from
pitahaya to pitahaya and from valley to valley in a slovenly chase of
this natural harvest, until waning supply and cloying appetite drive
them back to the severer chase of turtle and pelican. The fruit is not
cooked, and never preserved save in the noisome way of nature, and
is rarely transported in quantities or over distances of industrial
importance; yet the product may have some connection with the basketry
of the tribe. The devices for collecting the fruits, especially from
the lofty saguaro and saguesa, are mere improvisations of harpoon
shafts, paloblanco branches, or chance cane-stalks carried primarily
for arrow-making or balsa construction. There is no such well-studied
and semiceremonial apparatus for tuna gathering as, for example, the
Papago device made from the ribs of the dead saguaro in accordance with
traditional formula.
Perhaps second in importance among the vegetal constituents of Seri
diet is the mesquite bean, which is gathered in random fashion whenever
a well-loaded tree is found and other conditions favor. The woody
beans and still woodier pods are roughly pulverized by pounding with
the hupf on any convenient stone used as an ahst (metate or mortar),
or, if suitable stones are not at hand, they are carried in baskets or
improvised bags to the nearest shore or other place at which stones
may be found. The half-ground grist is winnowed in the ordinary way
of tossing in a basket; and the grinding and winnowing continue
alternately until a fairly uniform bean meal is obtained. So far as was
actually observed this is eaten raw, either dry in small pinches or,
more commonly, stirred in water to form a thin atole; but expressions
at Costa Rica indicated that the meal is sometimes stirred in boiling
water or pot-liquor, and thus partially cooked, in times of rest and
plenty.
Other vegetal products used as food comprise a variety of seeds
collected from sedges and grasses growing about the mud-flats of Laguna
La Cruz and other portions of the province, as well as the seeds and
nuts of the scant shrubbery of shores and mountains; while a local
seaweed or kelp is eaten in small quantity, apparently as a condiment,
and is sometimes carried on journeys even as far as Costa Rica, where
specimens were obtained in 1894.
It is of interest to note that one of the most distinctive constituents
of the Sonoran flora, and one intimately connected with human life in
the great neighboring province of Papagueria, is of negligible rarity
in Seriland; this is the visnaga (_Echinocactus_, probably of two or
three species), the thorniest of the cacti and the only one containing
consumable pulp and sap. This peculiar plant is of no small interest in
itself as a striking example of the inverse relation between protective
devices of chemical sort (culminating in acrid, offensive, or toxic
juices) and the mechanical armaments so characteristic of desert
plants;[282] it is of still deeper interest economically as the sole
source of water over broad expanses of the desert, and one to which
hundreds of pioneers and travelers have been indebted for their lives;
and it is of interest, too, as a factor of Papago faith, in which the
visnaga ranks among the richer guerdons of the rain gods. Throughout
most of Papagueria this cactus is fairly abundant; usually there are
several specimens to the square mile of suitable soil (it is not found
in playas or on the ruggeder sierras), so that it is always within
reach of the sagacious traveler; but it diminishes in abundance toward
the borders of Seriland, and not more than a dozen examples were found
in the portions of that province traversed by the 1895 expedition. Its
rare occurrence, chiefly in the form of wounded and dwarfed specimens,
seems to indicate that its original range comprised all Seriland; while
its dearth suggests destruction nearly to the verge of extinction by
improvident generations better armed with their hupfs and harpoons and
shell-cups than the subhuman beasts against whom the plant is so well
protected.
[282] Cf. The Beginning of Agriculture; The American Anthropologist,
vol. VIII Oct., 1895, pp. 350-375.
* * * * *
Aside from the universally used hupf and ahst (which may be regarded as
differentiated implements or tools), the only special device used in
connection with vegetal food is the basket, or, rather, basketry tray
(illustrated in figure 24). This ware is of the widespread coil type
so characteristic of southwestern tribes. The coil is a wisp of stems
and splints of a fibrous yet spongy shrub, apparently torote; and the
woof consists of paloblanco (?) splints deftly intertwined by aid of an
awl. The construction is fairly neat and remarkably uniform; the coiled
wisps vary somewhat in size, both intentionally and inadvertently,
ranging from an average of three-eighths of an inch toward the bottoms
of the larger specimens to half that diameter in the smaller specimens
and toward the margins of the larger. The initial coil starts in an
indefinite knot, rather than a button, at the center; and the spiral
is continuous throughout, the final coil being quite deftly worked out
to a single splint smoothly stitched to the next lower spiral with the
woof splints. The ware is practically water-tight, remarkably strong
and resilient, and quite durable in the dry climate of Seriland.
Ordinarily the basket is abandoned when the bottom decays or breaks,
but an ancient specimen obtained on Isla Tiburon was roughly rebottomed
with a patch of sealskin attached by means of sinew. The baskets are
notably uniform in shape, though the size varies from 8 or 9 inches to
fully 17 inches in diameter.
FIG. 24—Seri basket.
The most striking feature of the Seri basketry, as of the pottery,
is extreme lightness in proportion to capacity, a quality due to
the spongy character of the torote coil and to the thinness of
the splints used in the woof. The inside dimensions, weight, and
dry-measure capacity (filled to the level of the brim with rice) of two
typical specimens approaching extremes in size are indicated in the
accompanying table. As noted elsewhere, the ware is absolutely without
decorative devices in weave, paint, or form; it is baldly utilitarian,
a model of economy in material and in the balance between structure and
function, approaching in this respect the thin-walled canteen-olla, the
graceful balsa, and the light but effective harpoon. The structural
correspondence of the ware to a widespread type and its limited use
among the tribe suggest an accultural origin for the Seri basketry; but
the delicate adjustment of means to ends in the manufacture and the
strictly local character of the material quite as strongly suggest an
indigenous development.
--------+---------------+-----------------+-------------+-------------------+
Museum | Diameter | Depth | Weight | Capacity |
No. | | | | |
--------+---------------+-----------------+-------------+-------------------+
| | | | |
174528 |38 cm. (15 in.)|9.5 cm. (3¾ in.) |482g. (17oz.)| 6.25 l. (6.6 qt.) |
174528a |23 cm. (9 in.) |5.0cm. (2 in.) |142 g. (5oz.)| 1 l. (1.06 qt.)|
--------+---------------+-----------------+-------------+-------------------+
It is impossible to portray justly the food habits of the Seri without
some reference to a systematic scatophagy, which seems to possess
fiducial as well as economic features. In its simplest aspect this
custom is connected with the tuna harvests; the fruits are eaten in
enormous quantity, and are imperfectly digested, the hard-coated
seeds especially passing through the system unchanged; the feces
containing these seeds are preserved with some care, and after the
harvest is passed the hoard (desiccated, of course, in the dry climate)
is ground between hupf and ahst, and winnowed in baskets precisely
as are the mesquite beans; and the product is then eaten either dry
or in the form of atole like the mesquite meal. In superficial view
this food factor is the precise homologue of the “second harvest” of
the California Indians as described by Clavigero, Baegert,[283] and
others; but it gains importance, among the Seri at least, as the
sole method of storing or preserving food-supplies, and hence as the
germ of industrial economy out of which a feeble thrift-sense may be
regarded as emerging. And the rise of thrift in Seriland, like esthetic
and industrial beginnings generally, is shaped by faith and attendant
ceremony; for the doubly consumed food is credited with intensified
powers and virtues, and held to be specially potent in the relief
of hunger and in giving endurance for the hard warpath or prolonged
chase; it is—and makes—very strong (“mucho fuerte”), in the laconic
and confident explanation of Mashém. Incongruous as the custom is to
higher culture, it finds natural suggestion in the everyday habits of
the tribe, who are wonted not only to the eating of animal entrails
in raw and uncleaned condition, but especially to the relief of the
sharpest pangs of hunger by means of the soft structures and their
semiassimilated contents—an association of much influence in primitive
thought. Concordantly with the custom and the faith grown out of it,
the excreta in general take a prominent place in the Seri mind; the
use of urine in ablution, etc., is little understood and may be passed
over; but all bony feces—and it may be noted that the “sign” of the
Seri more resembles that of wolves or snake-eating swine than that of
men—following gorges of large quarry are customarily located and kept
in mind for recourse in time of ensuing shortage, when the mass is
ground on the ahst and reconsumed; and even the ordinary discharge is
preserved during the seasons of less reliable food-supply.
[283] An Account of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Californian
Peninsula, as given by Jacob Baegert, a German Jesuit missionary....
Translated and arranged for the Smithsonian Institution by Charles Rau;
Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. for 1863, pp. 352-369. Baegert’s account of
foods (pp. 363-367) is so apposite as to be worthy of quotation nearly
entire:
“Notwithstanding the barrenness of the country, a Californian hardly
ever dies of hunger, except, perhaps, now and then an individual that
falls sick in the wilderness and at a great distance from the mission,
for those who are in good health trouble themselves very little about
such patients, even if these should happen to be their husbands, wives,
or other relations; and a little child that has lost its mother or both
parents is also occasionally in danger of starving to death, because
in some instances no one will take charge of it, the father being
sometimes inhuman enough to abandon his offspring to its fate.
“The food of the Californians, as will be seen, is certainly of a mean
quality, yet it keeps them in a healthy condition, and they become
strong and grow old in spite of their poor diet. The only period of the
year during which the Californians can satisfy their appetite without
restraint is the season of the pitahayas, which ripen in the middle
of June and abound for more than eight weeks. The gathering of this
fruit may be considered as the harvest of the native inhabitants. They
can eat as much of it as they please, and with some this food agrees
so well that they become corpulent during that period; and for this
reason I was sometimes unable to recognize at first sight individuals,
otherwise perfectly familiar to me, who visited me after having fed
for three or four weeks on these pitahayas. They do not, however,
preserve them, and when the season is over they are put again on short
rations. Among the roots eaten by the Californians may be mentioned
the yuka, which constitutes an important article of food in many parts
of America, as, for instance, in the island of Cuba, but is not very
abundant in California. In some provinces it is made into a kind of
bread or cake, while the Californians, who would find this process too
tedious, simply roast the yukas in a fire like potatoes. Another root
eaten by the natives is that of the aloë plant, of which there are
many kinds in this country. Those species of this vegetable, however,
which afford nourishment—for not all of them are edible—do not grow
as plentifully as the Californians might wish, and very seldom in the
neighborhood of water; the preparations, moreover, which are necessary
to render this plant eatable, require much time and labor.... I saw the
natives also frequently eat the roots of the common reed, just as they
were taken out of the water. Certain seeds, some of them not larger
than those of the mustard, and different sorts in pods that grow on
shrubs and little trees, and of which there are, according to Father
Piccolo, more than sixteen kinds, are likewise diligently sought; yet
they furnish only a small quantity of grain, and all that a person can
collect with much toil during a whole year may scarcely amount to 12
bushels.
“It can be said that the Californians eat, without exception, all
animals they can obtain. Besides the different kinds of larger
indigenous quadrupeds and birds, they live nowadays on dogs and cats;
horses, asses, and mules; _item_, on owls, mice, and rats; lizards and
snakes; bats, grasshoppers, and crickets; a kind of green caterpillar
without hair, about a finger long, and an abominable white worm of
the length and thickness of the thumb, which they find occasionally
in old rotten wood, and consider as a particular delicacy. The chase
of game, such as deer and rabbits, furnishes only a small portion
of a Californian’s provisions. Supposing that for 100 families 300
deer are killed in the course of a year, which is a very favorable
estimate, they would supply each family only with three meals in three
hundred and sixty-five days, and thus relieve but in a very small
degree the hunger and the poverty of these people. The hunting for
snakes, lizards, mice, and field-rats, which they practice with great
diligence, is by far more profitable and supplies them with a much
greater quantity of articles for consumption. Snakes, especially, are a
favorite sort of small game, and thousands of them find annually their
way into the stomachs of the Californians.
“In catching fish, particularly in the Pacific, which is much richer in
that respect than the Gulf of California, the natives use neither nets
nor hooks, but a kind of lance—that is, a long, slender, pointed piece
of hard wood—which they handle very dexterously in spearing and killing
their prey. Sea-turtles are caught in the same manner.
“I have now mentioned the different articles forming the ordinary
food of the Californians; but, besides these, they reject nothing
that their teeth can chew or their stomachs are capable of digesting,
however tasteless or unclean and disgusting it may be. Thus they
will eat the leaves of the Indian fig-tree, the tender shoots of
certain shrubs, tanned or untanned leather, old straps of rawhide,
with which a fence was tied together for years; _item,_ the bones of
poultry, sheep, goats, and calves; putrid meat or fish swarming with
worms, damaged wheat or Indian corn, and many other things of that
sort which may serve to appease the hunger they are almost constantly
suffering. Anything that is thrown to the hogs will be also accepted by
a Californian, and he takes it without feeling offended, or thinking
for a moment that he is treated below his dignity. For this reason no
one took the trouble to clean the wheat or maize, which was cooked for
them in a large kettle, of the black worms and little bugs, even if
the numbers of these vermin had been equal to that of the grains. By a
daily distribution of about 150 bushels of bran (which they are in the
habit of eating without any preparation) I could have induced all my
parishioners to remain permanently in the mission, excepting during the
time when the pitahayas are gathered.
“I saw one day a blind man, 70 years of age, who was busily engaged
in pounding between two stones an old shoe made of raw deerskin, and
whenever he had detached a piece he transferred it promptly to his
mouth and swallowed it; and yet this man had a daughter and grown
grandchildren. As soon as any of the cattle are killed and the hide
is spread out on the ground to dry, half a dozen boys or men will
instantly rush upon it and commence to work with knives, flints,
and their teeth, tearing and scratching off pieces, which they eat
immediately, till the hide is full of holes or scattered in all
directions. In the mission of St. Ignatius and in others further toward
the north there are persons who will attach a piece of meat to a string
and swallow it and pull it out again a dozen times in succession, for
the sake of protracting the enjoyment of its taste.
I must here ask permission of the kind reader to mention something of
an exceedingly disgusting and almost inhuman nature, the like of which
probably never has been recorded of any people in the world, but which
demonstrates better than anything else the whole extent of the poverty,
uncleanness, and voracity of these wretched beings. In describing the
pitahayas I have already stated that they contain a great many small
seeds resembling grains of powder. For some reason unknown to me these
seeds are not consumed in the stomach, but pass off in an undigested
state, and in order to save them the natives collect during the season
of the pitahayas that which is discharged from the human body, separate
the seeds from it, and roast, grind, and eat them, making merry over
their loathsome meals, which the Spaniards therefore call the second
harvest of the Californians. [This statement is corroborated in all
particulars by Clavigero in his Storia della California, Venice, 1789,
vol. I, p. 117.] When I first heard that such a filthy habit existed
among them I was disinclined to believe the report, but to my utter
regret I became afterwards repeatedly a witness to the proceeding,
which they are unwilling to abandon, like many other bad practices
[probably because of the fiducial character of the custom—W J M.].
Yet I must say in their favor that they have always abstained from
human flesh, contrary to the horrible usage of so many other American
nations who can obtain their daily food much easier than these poor
Californians.
“They have no other drink but the water, and heaven be praised that
they are unacquainted with such strong beverages as are distilled in
many American provinces from Indian corn, the aloë, and other plants,
and which the Americans in those parts merely drink for the purpose
of intoxicating themselves. When a Californian encounters during his
wanderings a pond or pool, and feels a desire to quench his thirst, he
lies flat on the ground and applies his mouth directly to the water.
Sometimes the horns of cattle are used as drinking vessels.
“Having thus far given an account of the different articles used as
aliment by the aborigines of the peninsula, I will now proceed to
describe in what manner they prepare their victuals. They do not cook,
boil, or roast like people in civilized countries, because they are
neither acquainted with these methods nor possessed of vessels and
utensils to employ for such purposes; and, besides, their patience
would be taxed beyond endurance if they had to wait till a piece of
meat is well cooked or thoroughly roasted. Their whole process simply
consists in burning, singeing, or roasting in an open fire all such
victuals as are not eaten in a raw state. Without any formalities, the
piece of meat, the fish, bird, snake, field mouse, bat, or whatever it
may be is thrown into the flames or on the glowing embers, and left
there to smoke and to sweat for about a quarter of an hour; after
which the article is withdrawn, in most cases only burned or charred
on the outside, but still raw and bloody within. As soon as it has
become sufficiently cool, they shake it a little in order to remove the
adhering dust or sand, and eat it with great relish. Yet I must add
here, that they do not previously take the trouble to skin the mice or
disembowel the rats, nor deem it necessary to clean the half-emptied
entrails and maws of larger animals, which they have to cut in pieces
before they can roast them. Seeds, kernels, grasshoppers, green
caterpillars, the white worms already mentioned, and similar things
that would be lost, on account of their smallness, in the embers and
flames of an open fire, are parched on hot coals, which they constantly
throw up and shake in a turtle shell or a kind of frying pan woven out
of a certain plant. What they have parched or roasted in this manner is
ground to powder between two stones, and eaten in a dry state. Bones
are treated in like manner.
“They eat everything unsalted, though they might obtain plenty of salt;
but since they cannot dine every day on roast meat and constantly
change their quarters, they would find it too cumbersome to carry
always a supply of salt with them.
“The preparation of the aloë, also called _mescale_ or _maguey_ by
the Spaniards, requires more time and labor. The roots, after being
properly separated from the plants, are roasted for some hours in a
strong fire, and then buried, twelve or twenty together, in the ground,
and well covered with hot stones, hot ashes, and earth. In this state
they have to remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and when dug out
again they are of a fine yellow color, and perfectly tender, making a
very palatable dish, which has served me frequently as food when I had
nothing else to eat, or as dessert after dinner in lieu of fruit. But
they act at first as a purgative on persons who are not accustomed to
them, and leave the throat somewhat rough for a few hours afterwards.
“To light a fire the Californians make no use of steel and flint,
but obtain it by the friction of two pieces of wood. One of them is
cylindrical, and pointed on one end, which fits into a round cavity in
the other, and by turning the cylindrical piece with great rapidity
between their hands, like a twirling stick, they succeed in igniting
the lower piece if they continue the process for a sufficient length of
time.
“The Californians have no fixed time for any sort of business, and
eat, consequently, whenever they have anything, or feel inclined to do
so, which is nearly always the case. I never asked one of them whether
he was hungry who failed to answer in the affirmative, even if his
appearance indicated the contrary. A meal in the middle of the day is
the least in use among them, because they all set out early in the
morning for their foraging expeditions, and return only in the evening
to the place from which they started, if they do not choose some other
locality for their night quarters. The day being thus spent in running
about and searching for food, they have no time left for preparing
a dinner at noon. They start always empty-handed; for if perchance
something remains from their evening repasts they certainly eat it
during the night in waking moments or on the following morning before
leaving. The Californians can endure hunger easier and much longer than
other people; whereas they will eat enormously if a chance is given. I
often tried to buy a piece of venison from them when the skin had but
lately been stripped off the deer, but regularly received the answer
that nothing was left; and I knew well enough that the hunter who
killed the animal needed no assistance to finish it. Twenty-four pounds
of meat in twenty-four hours is not deemed an extraordinary ration for
a single person, and to see anything eatable before him is a temptation
for a Californian which he cannot resist; and not to make away with it
before night would be a victory he is very seldom capable of gaining
over himself.”
Clavigero’s account of the food-habits of the California Indians is
similar, though generally less explicit. According to him the seeds
forming the “second harvest of pitahayas” are extracted carefully while
fresh, and are afterward roasted, ground, and preserved in the form of
meal against the ensuing winter. Of the reswallowing habit, he says:
“The savages living in the northern part of the peninsula have found
the secret, unknown to mortals in general, to eat and re-eat the same
meal repeatedly. They tie a string around a mouthful of meat dried and
hardened in the sun. After chewing it for a while they swallow it,
leaving the string hanging from the mouth. After two or three minutes,
by means of the string they draw the meat up again to be rechewed, and
this they repeat as many times as may be necessary until the morsel is
consumed or so softened that the string will not hold it any longer. In
extracting it from the throat they make such a noise that to one who
has not before heard it it appears that they are choking themselves.
“When many individuals are gathered together to eat in this manner it
is practiced with more ceremony. They seat themselves on the ground,
forming a circle of eight or ten persons. One of them takes the
mouthful and swallows it, and afterwards draws it up again and passes
it to the next one, and this one to another, proceeding thus around
the circle with much enjoyment until the morsel is consumed. This
has astonished the Spaniards who have seen it, and indeed it would
not be credible if it had not been unanimously testified to by all
who have been in that country. Several Jesuits who did not believe
this, notwithstanding that sincere and prominent persons confirmed
it, having afterwards gone to California saw it with their own eyes.
Among those Indians who have embraced Christianity this loathsome and
dangerous method of eating has been abandoned in consequence of the
continual reproofs of the missionaries.” (Historia de la Antigua ó Baja
California, obra postuma del Padre Francisco Javier Clavijero; Mexico,
1852, p. 24.)
The records of Clavigero and Baegert indicate fair correspondence in
the food habits of the California Indians and the Seri, though there
are certain noteworthy differences, e. g., the tabu of the badger among
the former and of the ground-squirrel among the latter; it would also
appear that the Californians were the more largely vegetarian and the
better advanced in culinary processes. The customs of the Seri throw
light on the genesis of “re-eating”, for the process would appear to be
but an extension of the repeated mouthing and swallowing of tendonous
strings still attached to the bones of larger animals.
There is an obscure connection between this curious and repulsive
food custom of the Seri and the mortuary customs of the tribe, which
was not detected until the opportunity for personal inquiry had gone
by. About the rancherias on Isla Tiburon, and especially about the
extensive house-group at the base of Punta Tormenta, there are burial
places marked by cairns of cobbles, or by heaps of thorny brambles
where cobbles are not accessible; and most of these cairns and
bramble-piles are supplemented by hoards of desiccated feces carefully
stored in shells, usually of _Arca_ (a typical specimen is illustrated
in figure 25). The hoards range from 50 to 500 shells in quantity, and
there were fully a score of them at Punta Tormenta alone. About the
newer rancherias, as at Rada Ballena, where there are no cemeteries,
the hoards are simply piled about small clumps of shrubbery. The
meaning of the association of the dietetic residua and death in the
Seri mind is not wholly clear; yet the connection between the “strong
food” for the warpath and the mystical food for the manes in the long
journey to the hereafter is close enough to give some inkling of the
meaning.[284]
[284] Cf. Scatologic Rites of all Nations, by Captain John G. Bourke,
1891, especially chapter LI, pp. 459-460. The Seri custom, resting, as
it does, on an evident economic basis, tends to explain the scatophagy
of the Hopi and other tribes described by Bourke.
[Illustration: FIG. 25—Scatophagic supplies.]
* * * * *
In recapitulating the food supplies of the Seri it is not without
interest to estimate roughly the relative quantities of the several
constituents consumed; and the proportions maybe made the more readily
comprehensible by expression in absolute terms. As a basis for the
quantitative estimate, it may be assumed that the average Seri,
living, as he does, a vigorous outdoor life, consuming, as he does, a
diet of less average nutrition than the selected and cooked foods of
higher culture, and attaining, as he does, an exceptional stature and
strength, eats something more than the average ration; so that his
ration of solid food may be lumped at 2.75 pounds (about 1,250 grams)
daily, or 1,000 pounds (about 455 kilograms) yearly. The aggregate
diet of the tribe may be estimated also by assuming the population to
comprise 300 full eaters, besides, say, 50 nurslings negligible in
the computation; so that the annual consumption of the tribe may be
reckoned at 300,000 pounds (136,000 kilograms), or 150 tons, of solid
food. Accordingly the several constituents may be estimated, as shown
in the accompanying table, in percentages of the total, in pounds
aggregate and apiece for the eaters, and (so far as practicable) in
units both aggregate and apiece; the weights of units being roughly
averaged at 100 pounds (45 kilograms) for turtles, 12½ pounds (5.6
kilograms) for large land game, 450 pounds (about 200 kilograms) for
stock, and 2 ounces (56.7 grams) for tunas.
_Estimated annual dietary of the Seri tribe_
Constituents Per Quantity Units
cent
Aggregate Apiece Aggregate Apiece
_Pounds_ _Pounds_
Turtles 25 75,000 250 750 2½
Pelicans 5 15,000 50 1,200 4
Other water-fowl
and eggs 8 24,000 80
Fish 15 45,000 150
Shellfish (except
turtles) 10 30,000 100
Large land game 7 21,000 70 200 ⅔
Other land game 8 24,000 80
Stock 6 18,000 60 40 2/15
Tunas 9 27,000 90 216,000 720
Other vegetals 5 15,000 50
Miscellaneous 2 6,000 20
Total 100 300,000 1,000
Of course the constituents vary with temporary conditions; during
“The Time of the Big Fish”, practically all other sources of food
were neglected until the providential supply was exhausted; during
the decades of main subsistence on stolen stock it is probable that
the consumption of other constituents, perhaps excepting the tunas,
was proportionately reduced; and it is not improbable that during the
warfare between Seri and Tepoka, described by Hardy, the consumption of
turtles was materially diminished. Judging from the direct and indirect
data and from general analogies, the least variable constituent is
the cactus fruit, which probably fails but rarely and is so easily
harvested as practically to supplant all other supplies during its
season of a month or more. At the best, too, the quantitative estimates
are nothing more than necessarily arbitrary approximations, based on
incomplete inquiries and observations;[285] yet they are better than no
estimates at all, and appear to form a fairly trustworthy basis for
consideration of the Seri food habits.
[285] About 200 turtle-shells were noticed about the rancherias at
Punta Tormenta and Rada Ballena alone in 1895, all being less than two
years old, as judged from the degree of weathering.
On reviewing the constituents it would appear that the Seri must be
regarded as essentially a maritime people, in that about two-thirds
of their food is derived from the sea; also that they must be deemed
essentially carnivorous, since fully five-sixths of their diet (84 per
cent plus a share of the miscellaneous—chiefly scatophagous—category)
is animal. The tabulation does not show the relative proportions of the
several constituents cooked and eaten raw, but the best available data
indicate that fully three-fourths of the ordinary dietary, both animal
and vegetal, is ingested in raw condition, and that the greater part of
the remaining fourth is imperfectly cooked.
* * * * *
In recapitulating the devices for food-getting, it is found that nearly
all of the more distinctive artifacts and crafts are either directly
or indirectly connected with that primary activity of living things,
food-conquest. Foremost among the distinctive artifacts of the Seri,
in its relation to daily life and in its technical perfection, is the
canteen-olla; probably second in importance, and also in technical
perfection, is the balsa—whose functions, however, extend beyond
simple food-getting; next comes the crude and simple, yet economically
perfected, turtle-harpoon, with its variants in the form of arrow (with
a function in warfare as well as in food-getting) and fire-drill; while
the light basket-tray, although capable of carrying ten to twenty-five
times its own weight, is perhaps the least perfect technically of the
artifacts directly connected with sustentation. And it should be noted
that the prevailing tools—hupf, ahst, multifunctional shell, and awl
of mandible or bone or tooth—have either an immediate or a secondary
connection with food-getting.
NAVIGATION
At first sight Seriland seems an abnormal habitat for a primitive
people, since its land area is cleft in twain by a stormy strait—a
strait whose terrors to the few Caucasian navigators who have reached
its swirling currents are indicated by their appellations, “El Canal
Peligroso de San Miguel”[286] and “El Infiernillo”; for such a stretch
of troubled water is commonly a more serious bar to travel than any
moderate land expanse. This intuitive notion of the effectiveness of a
water barrier, and the correlative feeling of the incongruity of a land
barrier insuperable for centuries, is well illustrated by prevailing
opinion throughout northwestern Mexico; for it is commonly supposed in
Sonora and neighboring states that Seriland is conterminous with Isla
Tiburon, i. e., that the mainland portion of the province (including
Sierra Seri with its flanking footslopes) lies beyond the diabolic
channel. Yet longer scrutiny shows that the superficial impression
merely mirrors Caucasian thought and fails to touch the essential
conditions, especially as they are reflected in the primitive minds
of the local tribe; and careful study of the habits and history of
the Seri shows that the dangerous strait has been a potent factor
in preserving tribal existence and perpetuating tribal integrity.
Naturally the factor operates through navigation; for it is by means
of this art that the tribesmen are able to avoid or to repel the rare
invaders of either mainland or insular portions of their province,
the overland pioneers from the east being stopped by the strait and
the maritime explorers from south and west being unable to maintain
themselves long about the stormy shores and never outfitted for
pushing far toward the mainland retreats and strongholds; while by
means of their light and simple craft the Seri were able to retreat
or to advance across the strait as readily as over the adjacent lands
to which they were wonted by the experience of generations. In their
minds, indeed, El Infiernillo is the nucleus of their province. So
the Seri were among the lowliest learners of that lesson of highest
statecraft, that lands are not divided but united by intervening
sea; and their ill-formulated and provincial notions are of much
significance in their bearing on autochthonous habits and habitats.
[286] Hardy, Travels, p. 291.
The water-craft of which the Seri make so good use is a balsa, made of
three bundles of carrizal or cane lashed together alongside, measuring
barely 4 feet abeam, 1½ feet in depth, and some 30 feet in length over
all. A fine specimen (except for a slight injury at one end) is shown
in plan and profile in plate XXXI. It was obtained near Boca Infierno
in 1895, partly towed and partly paddled thence to Embarcadero Andrade,
wagoned laboriously across Desierto Encinas and on to Hermosillo,
conveyed in an iron-sheathed box on two gondolas of the narrow-gage
Ferrocarril de Sonora to the international frontier, and finally
freighted to the United States National Museum, where (in the Mall just
outside the building) the photographs reproduced in the plate were
taken.
The manufacture of the balsa has never been seen by Caucasian eyes, but
the processes are safely inferred from the structure, whose testimony
is corroborated in part by Mashém’s imperfect descriptions. The first
step is the gathering of the carrizal from one of the patches growing
about the three or four permanent fresh waters of Seriland, the canes
being carefully selected for straightness, symmetry, and uniformity in
size; these are then denuded of leaves and tassels, tied in bundles of
convenient size (one seen on Tiburon contained 40 or 50 canes), and
carried to the shore. In actual construction the canes are laid butt
to butt, but overlapping 2 or 3 feet, the overlap being shifted this
way and that with successive additions, so that the aggregate length of
overlapping in the bundle reaches 10 or 12 feet—i. e., the full length
of the body of the finished craft. The growing bundle is wrapped from
time to time with lashings of mesquite root or maguey fiber, and kept
in cylindrical form by constant rolling and by means of the lashing;
though the cord used for the purpose is so slender as to do little
more than serve the purposes of manufacture (only stray shreds of
the interior cording could be found in an old and abandoned balsa on
Punta Antigualla). As the bundle approaches the requisite size, the
building process changes; the butts of the successively added stalks
are thrust obliquely into the interstices extending beyond the butts
of earlier-used canes, and the stems are slightly bent to bring them
into parallelism with their fellows; and this interweaving process is
continued with increasing care until, when the bundle is completed,
there are no visible butts (all being pushed into the interior of the
bundle), while the only visible tips are those projecting to form the
tapering extremities. The finished bundle is then secured by a spiral
winding of slender cord. Two other bundles are next made, the three
being entirely similar, so far as is known; then the three are joined
by a lashing of slender cord like that used for the separate bundles,
which is twined alternately above and below the central bundle in such
manner as to hold the three in an approximate plane save toward the
extremities, where the lashing is much firmer and the tapering tips of
the bundles are brought into a triangular position, i. e., the position
of smallest compass. The cordage is of either mesquite root or maguey
fiber, the former being the more common, so far as observed (doubtless
by reason of the dearth of the latter plant); it is notably uniform in
twist and size, though surprisingly slender for the purpose, barely
three-sixteenths of an inch, or 5 mm., in diameter, and limited in
quantity.[287] The only tools or implements used in the manufacture
(and repair), so far as is known, are light wooden marlinspikes, two
of which are illustrated in figure 26; these are used in working the
cane-butts into the bundles. In collecting the canes the tassels are
broken off and the leaves stripped by the unaided hands, while the
stalks are broken off usually below the secondary roots in the downward
taper, and the rootlets and loose ends are removed either with the
hands or by fire.
[287] Only the finer cording shown in plate XXXI is original, the
coarser ropes having been added to facilitate handling.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXI
SERI BALSA IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM]
[Illustration: FIG. 26—Seri marlinspikes.]
The finished balsa is notably light and buoyant. The Boca Infierno
specimen was estimated to weigh about 250 pounds (113 kilograms) when
thoroughly dry, and little more than 300 pounds (126 kilograms)
when completely wet; so that it could easily be picked up by three
or four, or even by two, strong men and carried ashore to be hidden
in the fog-shrubbery skirting the coast. The craft floated high with
one man aboard, rode better with two, carried three without much
difficulty even in a fairly heavy sea, and would safely bear four
adults aggregating 600 pounds (272 kilograms) in moderate water. The
most striking features of the craft afloat are its graceful movement
and its perfect adaptation to variable seas and loads. The lines are
symmetric and of great delicacy, as indicated even by the photographs
out of its element; the reed-bundles are yielding, partly by resilience
and partly in the way of set, so that the body of the craft curves to
fit the weight and distribution of the load and to meet the impact of
swells and breakers. In smooth water a lightly laden balsa may appear
heavy and logy, but with a heavier load and stronger sea each tapering
end rises strongly and then recurves slightly in a Hogarthian line
graceful as the neck of a swan, while the whole craft skims the waves
or glides sinuously over their crests in a lightsome way, recalling
the easy movement of gull or petrel. A suggestion of its effect is
shown in figure 27, a composite drawn largely from photographs; another
suggestion is shown, in figure 28, reproduced in facsimile from a
drawing by the artist of the U. S. S. _Narragansett_ in 1873,[288] the
only known picture of the craft antecedent to the 1895 expedition.
[288] Publication No. 56, U. S. Hydrographic Office, Bureau of
Navigation, 1880, plate XV, p. 136.
[Illustration: FIG. 27—The balsa afloat.]
Almost equally striking features of the balsa are its efficiency and
safety under the severe local conditions. Carrying twice its weight
of (chiefly) living freight, it breasts gales and rides breakers and
stems tiderips that would crush a canoe, swamp a skiff, or capsize a
yawl; while if caught in currents or surf and cast ashore it is seldom
wrecked, but drops lightly on beach or rocks, to be pushed uninjured
by the broken wave-tips beyond the reach of pounding rollers, even if
it is not at once caught up by its passengers and carried to complete
safety. The strength of the craft is amazing, especially in view of
the slenderness of the cords used in construction; in fact, the outer
layers of canes are so ingeniously interlocked by the insertion of
their butts into interstices that each bundle holds itself together
with slight aid from the exterior cording, while even the bundles
themselves are held in proper relative position by the secure terminal
tying rather than by the intertwined cording of the body of the craft.
And the entire construction exemplifies the compartment principle to
perfection; a slight injury may affect but a single joint of one out
of several thousand canes, while even a severe fall on sharp rocks
seldom injures more than a few score canes, and these in a few joints
only. The most objectionable feature of the balsa lies in the fact
that it affords little protection from the wet. The water rises freely
through the reed bundles to a height depending on the load, and not
only the spray but the whitecaps and combers as well dash freely
over the unprotected body of the craft; but this defect is of little
consequence to the hardy and nearly nude navigators, or to their scanty
and practically uninjurable freight.
[Illustration: FIG. 28—Seri balsa as seen by _Narragansett_ party.]
The gracefulness and efficiency of the balsa itself stand in strong
contrast with the crude methods of propulsion. According to Mashém,
the craft is commonly propelled by either one or two women lying prone
on the reeds and paddling either with bare hands or with large shells
held in the hands; according to Hardy, the harpoon main shaft is used
by turtle fishermen for paddling (and probably for poling, also);
according to the Dewey picture (figure 28), the vessel is driven by
a woman with a double-end paddle like that used in connection with
the conventional canoe; while the expedition of 1895 found on Isla
Tiburon four or five paddles rudely wrought from flotsam boards and
barrel-staves, and partly hafted with rough sticks 3 or 4 feet long,
but partly without handles and evidently designed to be grasped
directly, like the shells of Mashém’s descriptions. No trace of oars,
rowlocks, sculls, rudders, or masts were found, and there is nothing
to indicate the faintest notion of sails and sailing. On the whole
there is no trace of well differentiated propelling devices—i. e., the
craft is perfected only as a static device and not at all as a dynamic
mechanism.
Despite their poverty in propelling devices, the Seri navigate their
waters successfully and extensively. Perhaps the commonest function
of the craft is that exercised in connection with the turtle fishery,
though its chief office as a factor of general industrial economy is
that of bridging El Infiernillo at the will of the roving clans. It is
by means of this craft, also, that the semiceremonial pelican feasts
on Tiburon are consummated; it is by the same means that Isla Patos,
Isla Turner, Roca Foca, and other insulated sources of food-supply
are habitually reached; and both Mashém’s accounts and the Jesuits’
records indicate that occasional voyages are pushed to San Esteban, San
Lorenzo, Angel de la Guarda, and even to the Baja California coast.
Concordantly with the tribal customs, little freight is carried.
The traveling family transport their poor possessions to the shore,
bring out the balsa from its hiding place in the thick and thorny
fog-shrubbery, launch it, lade it with a filled olla and the weapons
of a man and implements of a woman, besides any chance food and
clothing, and embark lightly to enjoy the semirepose of drifting before
the breeze—until the rising gale brings labor still more arduous
than that of scouring the spall-strewn slopes or sandy stretches of
their hard motherland. Commonly the terminus of the trip is fixed
largely by the chance of wind and tide; and when it is reached the
party carry the craft inshore, conceal it shrewdly, and then take up
their birdskin bed and walk forth in search of fresh water and meat.
The successful fishing trips of course end in orgies of gorging, and
when the voyage is the climax of a foray to the mainland frontier for
stock-stealing, the quarters and paunches and heads hastily thrown
aboard at the mainland side of the strait are carried to the rancherias
for consumption at leisure; and this has happened so often that equine
hoofs and bovine bones are common constituents of the middens on
Tiburon.
Although measurably similar to Central American and South American
types of water-craft, the Seri balsa is a notably distinct type for its
region. The California natives, as well as those of the mainland of
Mexico south of Rio Yaqui, used rafts made either of palm trunks or of
other logs lashed alongside rather than balsas; while the far-traveling
tribes used either sails or well-differentiated paddles for propulsion.
* * * * *
Briefly, the Seri balsa is remarkable for perfect adaptation to those
needs of its makers shaped by their distinctive environment. It seems
to approach the ideal of industrial economy—the acme of practicality—in
the adjustment of materials and forces to the ends of a lowly culture;
and, like the olla and harpoon and arrow, it affords an impressive
example of the adjustment of artifacts to environment through the
intervention of budding intelligence. Yet the chief significance of the
craft would seem to reside in its vestigial character as a survival of
that orarian stage in the course of human development in which men
lived alongshore and adjusted themselves to maritime conditions rather
than to terrestrial environments; a stage evidently but barely passed
by the Seri, since they still subsist mainly on sea food, still retain
their suggestive navigation, and still view their stormy straits and
bays as the nucleus and noblest portion of their province.
HABITATIONS
Among the Seri, as among primitive folk generally, the habitation
reflects local conditions, especially climate and building materials.
Now, Seriland is a subtropical yet arid tract, where rain rarely
falls, frost seldom forms, and snow is known only as a fleeting mantle
on generally distant mountains, so that there is little need for
protection from cold and wet; at the same time the district is too
desert to yield serviceable building material other than rock, which
the lowly folk have not learned to manipulate. Moreover, the tribesmen
and their families are perpetual fugitives (their movements being too
erratic and aimless to put them in the class of nomads); they are
too accustomed to wandering and too unaccustomed to long resting at
particular spots to have a home-sense, save for their motherland as
a whole; and, just as they rely on their own physical hardihood for
preservation against the elements, so they depend on their combined
fleetness and prowess for preservation against enemies. Accordingly,
the Seri habitation is not a permanent abode, still less a domicile for
weaklings or a shrine for household lares and penates, not at all a
castle of proprietary sanctity, and least of all a home; it is rather a
time-serving lair than a house in ordinary meaning.
Despite the poverty of the material and the squalor of the
structure, certain features of the Seri jacal are notably uniform
and conventional. In size and form it recalls the passing “prairie
schooner”, or covered wagon; it is some 10 or 12 feet long, half as
wide measured on the ground, and about 4½ feet high, with one end (the
front) open to the full width and height, and the other nearly or quite
closed. The conventional structural features comprise the upright bows
and horizontal tie-sticks forming the framework. The bows are made
of okatilla stems (_Fouquiera splendens_) roughly denuded of their
thorns; each is formed by thrusting the butts of two such stems (or
more if they are slender) into the ground at the requisite distance
apart, bending the tops together into an overlap of a yard or two,
and securing them partly by intertwisting, partly by any convenient
lashing; and about five or six such bows suffice for a jacal (the
appearance of the bows is fairly represented by the ruin shown in
plate VII). Next come the tie-sticks, which consist of any convenient
material (okatilla stems, cane-stalks, paloblanco branches, mesquite
roots, saguaro ribs, etc.), and are lashed to the butts by means of
withes, splints, or fiber wisps, at a height of some 4 feet above the
ground, or about where the walls merge into the roof. With the placing
of these sticks the conventional part of the building process may be
said to end; for up to this point the process is a collective one and
the materials are essentially uniform, while thereafter the completion
of the work depends largely on individual or family caprice, and the
materials are selected at random. Moreover, the framework is fairly
permanent, usually surviving a number of occupancies extending over
months or years, and outlasting an equal number of outer coverings; so
that all habitable Seriland is dotted sparsely with jacal skeletons,
sometimes retaining fragments of walls or roof, but oftener entirely
denuded.
The conversion of the framework into a habitable jacal is effected by
piling around and over it any convenient shrubbery, by which it is made
a sort of bower; sometimes the conversion is aided by the attachment of
additional tie-sticks both above and below the main horizontal pieces,
as illustrated in the upper figure of plate IX; sometimes, too, the
material of walls and roof is carefully selected and interwoven with
such pains as to form a rude thatch, as in the chief jacal at Rada
Ballena (the upper figure in plate VI); but more commonly the covering
is collected at random and is laid so loosely that it is held in place
only by gravity and wind pressure, and may be dislodged by a change of
wind. Ordinarily the walls are thicker and denser than the roofs, which
are supplemented in time of occupancy by haunches of venison, remnantal
quarters of cattle and horses, half-eaten turtles, hides and pelts, as
well as bird-skin robes, thrown on the bows partly to keep them out of
reach of coyotes and partly to afford shade. Most of the jacales about
the old rancheria at Punta Tormenta (abandoned at “The Time of the Big
Fish”), which may be regarded as the center of the turtle industry, are
irregularly clapboarded with turtle-shells and with sheets of a local
sponge, as illustrated in plate VII. This sponge abounds in the bight
of Rada Ballena, where at high water it spreads over the silty bottom
in a slimy sheet, and at low water with off-shore gales is left by the
waters to dry into a light and fairly tenacious mat, which is gathered
in sheets for bedding as well as for house-making material (a specimen
of the sponge—probably Chalina—is shown on larger scale in plate
VIII). On the frontier the jacales may be modified by the introduction
of sawed or riven lumber, as illustrated by some of the-structures
at Costa Rica (shown in plate XI); but even here there is a strong
disposition to adhere to the customary form, and especially to the
conventional framework, as indicated by the example in plate X.
While the jacales are not consistently oriented, they reveal a primary
preference for facing away from the prevailing wind and toward the
nearest sea, with a secondary preference for southern and eastern
exposures—the former preference being easily explained, since a gale
from the front quickly strips walls and roof and scatters the materials
afar. No definite order is observed in the placement of the several
jacales in the larger rancherias; apparently the first is located at
the choice of the leading elderwoman, and the others are clustered
about it at the common convenience. Usually the several jacales
are entirely separate; but at Punta Tormenta, Punta Narragansett, and
still more notably at Rada Ballena, individual huts were found either
extended to double length or joined obliquely in such wise as to show
two fronts (as illustrated in plate VI). The conventional frameworks
appear to be common tribal property, at least to the extent that an
abandoned skeleton may be preempted by any comer; while the addition
of walls and roof appears to afford a prescriptive proprietary right
to the elderwoman and family by whom the work is done—though the right
seems to hold only during occupancy, or until the temporary covering is
dislodged.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXII
PAINTED OLLA, WITH OLLA RING]
The jacales are without semblance of furnishing, beyond an occasional
ahst and a few loose pebbles used as hupfs; though the nooks behind
the bows and tie-sticks sometimes serve as places of concealment for
paint-cups, awls, hair bobbins, and other domestic trifles. There is
no floor but earth, and this remains in natural condition, except for
trampling and wearing into wallows, recalling those of fowls and swine,
which afford a rough measure of the periods of occupancy; there is no
fireplace—indeed, fires are rarely made in the jacales, nor for that
matter frequently anywhere; and there are no fixed places for bedding,
water ollas, or other portable possessions, none of which are left
behind when the householders are abroad.
* * * * *
Little is known of the actual process of jacal building, especially
in Seriland proper; but the observations of Señor Encinas and his
vaqueros on the frontier corroborate Mashém’s statements that the
houses are built by (and belong to) the matrons; that several women
customarily cooperate in the collection of the okatilla and erection of
the framework; that the only tools used in the processes are hupfs and
miscellaneous sticks; and that the placing and fitting of the beams and
tie sticks are accompanied by a chant, usually led by the eldest matron
of the group. The same informants support the ready inference from the
structure that the shrubbery and other material forming walls and roofs
are gathered and placed from time to time by the women occupying the
jacales.
The Seri building chant is suggestive. Neither Señor Encinas nor
Mashém regarded it as religious or even ritualistic, but merely as a
work-song designed (in the naive notion of the latter) to make the
task lighter; and it seems probable that the local interpretation is
correct. If so, the simple chant at once offers rational explanation
for its own existence, and opens the way to explanation of the
elaborate building rituals of more advanced tribes. The work-song is a
common device in many lowly activities, ranging from those of children
at play to those of sailors at the windlass, and undoubtedly serves
a useful purpose in guiding, coordinating, and concentrating effort;
to some extent the vocal accompaniment to the manual or bodily action
apparently expresses that normal interrelation of functions manifested
by secondary sense-effects (as when the sense of smell is intensified
by exercise of the organs of taste), or, in another direction, by the
habit of the youthful penman who shapes his letters by aid of lingual
and facial contortion; yet it is a characteristic of primitive life—one
doubtless due to the interrelations of psycho-physical functions—to
not only employ but to greatly exalt vocal formulas associated with
manual activities, so that words, and eventually _the_ Word, acquires
a mystical or talismanic or sacred significance pervading all lower
culture—indeed the savage shaman is unable to work his marvels without
mumbled incantations ending in some formulated and well-understood
utterance, and his practice persists in the meaningless mummery and
culminating “presto” of modern jugglery. So, viewed in the light of
psycho-physical causes and prevalent customs connected with vocal
formulas, it would seem probable that the conventional features of the
Seri jacales are crystallized in the tribal lore quite as effectually
through the associated work-chants as through direct memory of the
forms and structures themselves. And the simple runes chanted in
unison by Seri matrons engaged in bending and lashing their okatilla
house-bows apparently define a nascent stage in the development of
the elaborate fiducial house-building ceremonies characteristic of
various higher tribes; for the spontaneous vocal accompaniment tends
naturally to run into ritual under that law of the development of myth
or fable which explains so many of the customs and notions of primitive
peoples.[289]
[289] The law of fable in its relation to primitive surgery is
formulated in the Sixteenth Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Eth., 1897, p. 22.
APPARELING
Slightly as they have been affected by three centuries of sporadic
contact with higher culture, the Seri reveal many marks of
acculturation; and the most conspicuous of these are connected with
clothing, especially on the frontier, where women and even warriors
habitually wear a livery of subserviency in the form of cast-off
Caucasian rags (as illustrated in most of the photographs taken at
Costa Rica). Even in the depths of Seriland the native fabrics are
largely replaced by white men’s stuffs, obtained by barter, beggary,
and robbery; yet it is easy to distinguish the harlequin veneer of
borrowed trappings from the few fixed types of covering that seem
characteristic.
The most distinctive piece of apparel is a kilt, extending from
waist to knees, worn alike by men and women and the larger children.
Aboriginally it was either a birdskin robe or a rectangle of coarse
textile fabric, secured at the waist by a hair-cord belt; acculturally
it is usually a rectangle of manta (coarse sheeting) or other stuff,
preferably cotton or linen but sometimes woolen, fastened either by
tucking in the corners or by a belt of cord. Good specimens of the
accultural cloth kilt worn by men and larger boys are illustrated in
plates XVI and XIX; the birdskin kilt (put on for the purpose) is
illustrated in plate XVIII, while the aboriginal fabric is fairly
represented in plate XXIX. Although ordinarily worn as a kilt, the same
article (temporarily replaced by an improvised substitute) serves other
purposes at the convenience of the wearer; in the chase for tunas and
for moving game it becomes a bag or pack-sheet; in case of cold rain it
is shifted to the shoulders or the exposed side; during the siesta, it
is elevated on a shrub and a stick to serve as a canopy; at sleeping
time generally it forms (especially when of birdskin) a bed, i. e., a
combined mattress and coverlet; and in attack or defense the pelican
skin is at once standard, buckler, and waving capa to confuse quarry or
enemy after the manner of the toreador’s cloak.
An almost equally distinctive garment is a short shirt or wammus, with
long sleeves, worn by men and women but not by children; ordinarily it
covers the thorax, missing connection with the kilt by a few inches,
and so affording ventilation and space for suckling the teeming
offspring. Unlike the kilt, it is an actual garment, fitted with
sleeves and fastened in front with hair-cord strings. Although the Seri
wammus corresponds fairly with a Yaqui garment, it seems practically
certain that it is of local aboriginal design, and that it was made
primitively of haircloth or native textiles (as illustrated in plate
XXIX) and worn rather ceremoniously; but latterly it is made of manta
and is worn habitually (at least by the women and on the frontier),
though cast aside in preparation for any special task or effort—i. e.,
it is not connected with pudency-sense, save to a slight degree in the
younger women. The form, function, and prevalence of the wammus are
illustrated by the group shown in plate XIII, in which nearly all of
the thirty-odd adults wear the garment.
These two articles constitute the ordinary wearing apparel of the Seri,
though they are commonly supplemented (especially when both are of
manta) by a pelican-skin robe, which is habitually carried to serve
as bed or mackintosh, according to the chance of journey and weather,
or as a shield in sudden warfare. No head-covering is used, save in
the ceremonial masquerade, when the heads of animals are worn as
masks,[290] or in aping Caucasian customs, especially on expeditions
for barter (as illustrated in plate XII). Loose trousers of Mexican
pattern are sometimes put on at frontier points, but are discarded in
Seriland proper, save by Mashém, who maintains prestige partly by this
borrowed badge of Caucasian superiority. Leggings and moccasins are
eschewed, naturally enough, since they would afford little protection
from the sharp spalls and savage thorns of the district, and would give
lodgment for the barbed spines inevitably gathered in rapid chase or
flight over cactus-dotted stretches; and the only foot-covering seen
(save Mashém’s boots) was a single sandal made from the rough skin
of a turtle-flipper, apparently for ceremonial rather than practical
use. Of all the party at Costa Rica in 1894 subchief Mashém was
the only one who wore Caucasian apparel with any air of comfort and
fitness; yet even he, with hat and shirt, boots and breeches, and loose
bandana about his neck in cowboy style (plate XVII), did not feel
fully dressed without the slender hair-cord necklace of his kin in its
wonted place. On the frontier improvised fig-leaves were sometimes
put on the children of less than a dozen years (as illustrated by the
standing infant shown in plate XIV, who was thus dressed hastily for
her picture); and a common garb of the smaller children at Costa Rica,
as they played about the rancheria or wandered in directions away from
the white man’s rancho, was limited to a cincture of hair cord or snake
skin, or perhaps of agave fiber, under which an improvised kilt might
be tucked on the Caucasian’s approach.
[290] Hardy (Travels, p. 298) describes the ceremonial wearing of the
heads of deer with horns attached.
[Illustration: FIG. 29—Seri hairbrush.]
[Illustration: FIG. 30—Seri cradle.]
In addition to the individual apparel, each clan, or at least the
elderwoman or her fraternal executive, accumulates some surplus
material as opportunity offers, and this serves as family bedding
until occasion arises for converting it to other uses. Of late the
prevailing materials are pelican skins, lightly dressed and joined
into robes by sinew stitching; deerskins, dried or partially dressed;
cormorant skins, treated like those of the pelican; seal skins, usually
fragmentary; peccary skins, apparently dried without dressing,
together with skins of rabbits, mountain sheep, antelope, etc., usually
tattered or torn into fragments. Commonly the hides and pelts are
nearly or quite in natural condition, retaining the hair, fur, or
feathers. The dressing is apparently limited to scratching and gnawing
away superfluous flesh, followed by some rubbing and greasing; tanning
is apparently unknown. By far the most abundant of the collective
possessions are the pelican-skin robes, which form the sole article of
recognized barter with aliens. The aggregate stock accumulated at any
time is but meager, never too much to be borne on the heads and backs
of the clan in case of unexpected decamping.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIII
PLAIN OLLA]
[Illustration: FIG. 31—Hair spindle.]
Aside from the painting paraphernalia, there is but a single
conspicuous toilet article; this is a hairbrush made of yucca fiber
bound into cylindrical form, as illustrated in figure 29. This article
is in frequent use; both women and men give much attention to brushing
their own long and luxurious locks and cultivating the hair and scalps
of their children, the process being regarded as not only directly
useful but in some measure sacramental. Ordinarily the hair is parted
in the middle and brushed straight, the tresses being permitted to
wander at will and never braided or bound or restrained by fillets save
in imitation of Caucasian customs on the frontier; though in certain
ceremonies the pelage is gathered in a lofty knot on the top-head.[291]
[291] Cf. Hardy, Travels, p. 290.
The Seri cradle is merely a bow of paloblanco or other switch with
rude cross-sticks lashed on, as shown in figure 30. On this is laid a
small pelican-skin robe, with a quantity of pelican down for a diaper,
and perhaps a few pelican feathers attached as plumes to wave over the
occupant’s face; though on the frontier these primitive devices are
largely replaced by rags.
Among the important appurtenances of Seri life are the cords used
for belts and necklaces, as well as for the attachment of ceremonial
headdresses, for converting the kilts into bags, and for numberless
minor purposes. The finest of these are made from human hair; and for
this purpose the combings are carefully kept, twisted into strands, and
wound on thorns or sticks in slender bobbins, such as that illustrated
in figure 31. When the accumulation suffices the strands are doubled
or quadrupled, as shown in figures 32 and 33, and the cords are either
applied to immediate use or added to the matron’s meager store against
emergency demands. The cordage used for other purposes than appareling
is commonly made from fiber extracted either from the roots of the
mesquite or the stipes of the agave; usually it is well twisted and
notably uniform in size and texture; an inferior example appears in
figure 34. The manes and tails of horses and other stock are also
converted into cordage, of which the chief known application is in toy
riatas. It is of no small significance that the most highly prized
cordage material is human hair, and that its chief uses are connected
with the person; that the next in order of diminishing preciousness is
that derived from the fibrous plants, which is used in balsa-making,
bowstrings, harpoon cords, etc., as well as in the native fabrics; and
that the least prized material is that derived from imported animals,
which is largely limited in its utilization to youthful imitation of
Caucasian industries; for the association of material with function
reflects a distinctive feature of primitive thought, akin to that
displayed in somewhat higher culture as synecdochic magic, the doctrine
of signatures, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 32—Human-hair cord.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33—Horsehair cord.]
[Illustration: FIG. 34—Mesquite-fiber rope.]
Partly because of that decadence of aboriginal devices correlated
with acculturation, partly by reason of imperfect observation,
practically nothing is known of Seri spinning and weaving, and little
of Seri sewing. The religiously-guarded hair-combings are twisted
in the fingers and wound on stick-bobbins without aid of mechanical
appliances; and, so far as has been observed, the final making of hair
cords is merely a continuation of the strictly manual process. The
agave stipes and mesquite roots are alleged by vaqueros to be retted
in convenient lagoons and barrancas (a statement corroborated by the
finding of half a dozen sections of mesquite root soaking in a lagoon
near Punta Antigualla by the 1895 expedition), and then hatcheled
with the hupf or the edge of a shell; when the fibers are gathered
in slender wisps or loosely wound coils, both of which were among
the possessions of the Seri matrons at Costa Rica in 1894. So far as
could be ascertained, the final processes parallel those of hair-cord
making, i. e., the fibers are patiently sorted into strands, sized in
the fingers and twisted by rolling on the thigh, the strands being
subsequently combined in similar fashion.[292] Neither the weaving
nor the woven fabrics of the Seri have ever been seen by technologic
students so far as known, though the fabrics are shown in Von Bayer’s
photographs and have been described by various observers. According
to Señor Encinas, they resemble coarse bagging, and are woven or
netted quite plainly. The ordinary sewing material is sinew, used in
connection with a bone awl (a good example of which is illustrated
in figure 35), a fish spine or bone, a cactus thorn, or either the
mandible of a water-bird or a hard-wood skewer shaped after this
natural needle (figure 36 _a_ and _b_). Sometimes hair or vegetal fiber
is substituted for the sinew; and for certain purposes an agave thorn,
with the fibers naturally attached, serves for needle and thread.
[292] A rope-twisting device of the sort commonly employed by
southwestern Indians was found in use by Seri boys at Costa Rica in
1894, and was included in the Seri collection; but the indications were
that the device was a mere toy used, like the horse-hair riatas made by
its aid, only in youthful sports.
[Illustration: FIG. 35—Bone awl.]
[Illustration: FIG. 36—Wooden awls.]
Summarily, the customary apparel of Seri men and women may be regarded
as limited to three articles—(1) a kilt, normally of coarse textile
fabric, which is made a prime necessity by a well-developed pudency;
(2) a short wammus, also normally of coarse textile fabric, which
is apparently regarded as a convenience and luxury rather than a
necessity; and (3) a robe, normally of pelican skin, sometimes
substituted for either or both of the other articles, but ordinarily
used as bedding or as a buckler. The most valued of these articles
is the robe, which in the absence of the others replaces the kilt;
yet pudency demands the habitual use of some form of kilt, while both
wammus and robe are held so far superfluous that they may be laid aside
or bartered or otherwise dispensed with whenever occasion arises.
* * * * *
On considering the special functions and probable genesis of the
Seri appareling, the student is impressed by the absence of the
breech-clout, except perhaps in temporary improvisations—though the
absence of this widespread article of primitive costumery need awaken
little surprise in view of the environment, and especially of the
abounding barbs of Seriland, which render all appareling of doubtful
value save for the protection of tissues softened by habitual covering.
The prevailing thorniness of the habitat renders the free-flowing
and easily removable apron the most serviceable protection for the
exposed vitals of the pubic region; and this device, a common one in
thorny habitats generally, grades naturally into the short skirt or
kilt; while it would well accord with the maritime habit and habitual
thought of the Seri to apply the tough and densely feathered skin of
the pelican to the purpose. This suggestion as to the nascent covering
of the tribe consists with the tribal faith, in which the Ancient of
Pelicans ranks as the creative deity, while its modern representative
is esteemed a protective tutelary possessing talismanic powers against
cold, wet, bestial claw and fang, alien arrows, and all other evils;
so that the use of this feathered pelt as a shield against spiny
shrubbery, sharp-leaved sedges, and barb-thorned cacti is quite in
harmony with Seri philosophy. Accordingly it seems clear that the
pelican-skin kilt was autochthonous among the Seri, and that it was the
original form of tribal appareling; and it is of no small significance
that the type persists in actual use as well as in suggestive vestigial
forms, such as pelican-down swaddling for infants, pelican-feather
plumes on cradle nets, etc.
The passage from the pelican-skin kilt to the garment of textile
fabric under the slow processes of primitive thought may not be traced
confidently, though a strong suggestion arises in the Seri hair-cult
(a Samsonian faith not without parallel in far higher culture) under
which mystical powers and talismanic virtues are imputed to the human
pelage. It is in connection with this cult that the Seri locks are so
attentively cultivated and so assiduously preserved and consecrated
to more intimate personal uses in belts, necklaces, and the like; and
although the connecting links have not been found, it is thoroughly
in accord with Seri thought to assume that in earlier times the hair
necklaces were expanded into rudimentary apparel in connection with
pelican-skin shields, and after the conquest of vegetal fibers into
more finished garments probably woven partly of hair and worn in such
wise as to supplement the natural pelage in the protection of back,
shoulders, chest, and arms. If the indication of the tribal cult be
valid, it would appear that the wammus was the second piece of apparel
in order of genesis, though the first to be made of artificial fabric;
and it is noteworthy that the suggestion is supported by the form of
the short and free-flowing garment underlying the flowing tresses
of warriors and matrons, as well as the vestigial use of human-hair
cords for neckbands and fastening strings; while its antiquity in
comparison with the textile kilt is indicated by the fact that it is a
finished artifact, evidently fitted to its functions by generations of
adjustment.
The step from the making of the wammus to the substitution of
artificial fabrics for the pelican-skin kilt was an easy and natural
one; and it need only be noted that the transition is still incomplete,
since the feathered pelt is unquestioningly substituted for the fabric
whenever occasion demands, yet that the kilt in some form must be much
more archaic than the wammus, since it is correlated with the pudency
sense,[293] while the complete garment is not so correlated save in
slight and incipient degree.
[293] In this writing the conclusion reached in an unpublished
discussion of the beginning of clothing is assumed—i. e., that the
primal apparel was purely protective, and that the habitual concealment
of portions of the body incidental to its wearing gradually planted
the pudency sense. The germ of clothing, without attendant pudency, is
well illustrated in Karl von den Steinen’s observations and discussions
of the Brazilian natives (Unter den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens,
Berlin, 1894, pp. 190-199). It is noteworthy that the Seri, more
primitive as they are in so many respects than any other American
aborigines known, are much farther advanced than the Brazilian natives
in appareling and its effects on character. The similarities and the
differences are alike interesting; yet in both cases the costumes
reflect environmental conditions and needs with remarkable fidelity.
Accordingly the three articles of apparel may be seriated genetically
as (1) the pelican-skin robe, used long as a kilt, and only lately
relegated to emergency use and bedding; (2) the well-differentiated
wammus of textile fabric with hair-cord fastenings; and (3) the textile
kilt, with or without a hair-cord belt. And the three artifacts are
local and presumptively—indeed manifestly—autochthonous, and exemplify
the interdependence of artifacts and environment no less strikingly
than the Seri balsa or basket or jacal.
TOOLS AND THEIR USES
In advanced culture tools are finished products, made and used in
accordance with preconceived designs or established arts for the
production of commodities; in primal life (as well exemplified
by Seri handicraft) tools are mere by-products incidental to the
largely instinctive activities directed toward the maintenance of
life. Accordingly, the tools of advanced culture form the nucleus of
industries, while the designless tools of the prime cluster about the
outskirts of industrial activities; i. e., in developed industries
the tool is a primary factor, while in nascent industries it is but a
collateral.
The tools of any primitive tribe may be defined as appliances
used primarily in the production of implements and utensils, and
incidentally in preparing food, making habitations, manufacturing
apparel, building vehicles or vessels, etc.—in short, the appliances
used in producing devices for the maintenance of active life. The
definition emphasizes both the dearth and the undifferentiated
character of Seri tools; for the appliances used in the production
of devices are exceedingly few, and are commonly employed also in
food-getting or in other vital industries.
* * * * *
Perhaps the most conspicuous general fact in connection with Seri tools
and their uses is the prevalence of natural objects employed either (1)
in ways suggested by natural functions or (2) in ways determined by the
convenience of users; the former grading into artificial devices shaped
in similitude of natural objects and employed in ways suggested by
natural functions.
Prominent among the natural objects employed in natural ways are
mandibles of birds, used in piercing pelts and fabrics; fish spines
and bones, also used as piercers; thorns of cacti and mimosas,
used in similar ways: teeth and horns of game animals, used in
rending their own tissues, and afterward in miscellaneous industrial
processes; together with cane splints, used for incising. Frequently
the employment of such objects is mere improvisation; yet, so far as
could be ascertained through direct observation at Costa Rica, through
Mashém’s incomplete accounts, and through inquiries from residents
on the frontier, even the improvisations are made in accordance with
regular custom firmly fixed by associations—quite in the way, indeed,
of primitive life generally, and of the physiologic and psychic
processes from which primitive custom is so largely borrowed. With
these objects may be grouped the turtle-shells and pelican-pelts used
as shields against alien and animal enemies or as protectors against
the elements; and the Seri sages would class with them, the deer-head
masks and deer-hoof rattles worn in the dance to at once symbolize
and invoke strength and swiftness. One of the most striking among the
artificial devices of symbolic motive is the piercer, or awl, of wood
or bone, shaped in imitation of the avian mandible; yet still more
significant in a vestigial way (provided the most probable inference as
to genesis be valid) is the hard-wood foreshaft of arrow and harpoon,
shaped and used in trenchant symbolism of the deadly tooth.
There are two conspicuous classes of natural objects employed in ways
determined largely by the convenience of the users, viz., (_a_) marine
shells and (_b_) beach pebbles.
The marine shells applied industrially comprise the prevailing local
genera, _Cardium_, _Mactra_, _Arca_, _Chama_, and others. They are
used ordinarily as drinking-cups, dishes, dippers, receptacles for
fats and face-paints, and as small utensils generally; and they
are used nearly as commonly for scraping skins, severing animal and
plant tissues, digging graves and waterholes, propelling balsas, and
especially for scraping reeds and sticks and okatilla stems in the
manufacture of arrows, harpoons, bows, balsas, and jacal-frames—indeed,
the seashell is the Seri familiar, the ever-present handmate and
helper, the homologue of the Anglo-Saxon Jack with his hundred
word-compounds, a half-personified reflex of habitual action and
thought. Ordinarily—always, so far as is known—the shells are used
in the natural state, i. e., either in the condition of capture and
opening for the removal of the animal, or in the condition of finding
on the beach. For certain purposes the fresh and sharp-edged shell
is doubtless preferable, and for others the well-worn specimen (like
the paint-cup illustrated in plate XXVII) is chosen; but everything
indicates that the need for smoothed shells is met by selecting
wave-worn specimens, and nothing indicates that the value of the
appliance is deemed to be enhanced by wear of use—in fact, the
abundance of abandoned shells about the rancherias and camp sites,
and over all Seriland for that matter, indicates that the objects are
discarded as easily as they are found along the prolific shores.
Next to the shells, the most abundant industrial appliances of the Seri
are beach pebbles or cobbles. They are used for crushing shell and
bone, for rending the skins of larger animals, for severing tendons
and splintering bones, as well as for grinding or crushing seeds,
uprooting canes, chopping trees and branches, driving stakes, and
for the multifarious minor purposes connected with the manufacture
of arrows and balsas and jacales; they are also the favorite women’s
weapons in warfare and the chase, and are sometimes used in similar
wise by the warriors. The material for these appliances paves half the
shores of Seriland, and is available in shiploads; and its use not
only illustrates Seri handicraft in several significant aspects, but
illumines one of the more obscure stages in the technologic development
of mankind.
* * * * *
The cobble-stone implements of the Seri range from pebbles to
bowlders, and there is a corresponding range in function from light
hand-implements at one end of the series to unwieldy anvils and
metates at the other end. The intermediate sizes are not infrequently
utilized, and are customarily used interchangeably, the smaller of any
two used in conjunction serving as the hand implement and the larger
as the anvil or metate; yet there is a fairly definite clustering of
the objects about two types, a larger and more stationary class, and a
smaller and more portable one.
The Seri designation for the larger stone implement is that applied
to rock generally, viz., _ahst_ (the vowel broad, as in “father”); and
it seems probable that the term is onomatopoetic, or mimetic of the
sound produced in the use of the implement as a metate, and that its
application to rocks generally is secondary. The designation applied
to the smaller implement is _hupf_ or _kupf_ (the initial sound
explosive, combining the phonetic values of _h_ and _k_; the vowel
nearly as in “put”, or like “oo” in “took”); the term is clearly an
onomatope, imitating the sound of the blow delivered on flesh, on a
mass of partially crushed mesquite beans, etc.—indeed, both the word and
the sound of the blow seem to connote food or eating, while regular
pounding with the implement (either in ordinary use or by special
design) is a gathering signal. So far as ascertained, the term is not
extended to other objects save potential implements in the form of
suitable pebbles; but it is significant that there is no distinction
in speech—nor in thought, so far as could be ascertained—between the
natural pebble and the wear-shaped implement.[294] The local terms ahst
and hupf are explicit and specific, and without precise equivalents in
other known tongues; moreover, the objects designated are too inchoate
in development and hence too protean in function to be appropriately
denoted by the designations of implements pertaining to more
differentiated culture (mortar, metate, pestle, muller, mano, etc.).
Accordingly it seems desirable to retain the Seri designations.[295]
[294] The failure to discriminate natural objects from artificialized
implements produced from such objects by wear of use is a noteworthy
trait of primitive folk. It is conspicuous among the acorn Indians
of California, who fail to apperceive the manufacture of their own
mills and who conceive that their bowlder mortars and creek-pebble
pestles, even when completely artificialized by a generation’s use, are
merely found and appropriated; and a similar state of mind persists
among the well-advanced Papago, who have no conception of making
their well-finished mortars and pestles, or even the stone tomahawks
occasionally surviving, but regard the implements as fruits of
discovery or treasures-trove only.
[295] It should be noted that the terms used in the titles of the
accompanying plates are not denotive, but merely descriptive.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIV
DOMESTIC ANVIL, SIDE]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXV
DOMESTIC ANVIL, TOP]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXVI
DOMESTIC ANVIL, BOTTOM]
A typical specimen of intermediate size, used commonly as an ahst, but
susceptible of employment as a hupf, is illustrated (natural size) in
plates XXXV and XXXVI.[296] It is a hard, tough, hornblende-granite or
greenstone, with a few structure-lines brought out by weathering and
wave-wearing. Its weight is 4 pounds 10 ounces (2.10 kilograms); its
form and surface are entirely natural, save for slight battering shown
on the two principal faces and still less conspicuous bruises along one
edge (as imperfectly shown toward the left of plate XXXV). The specimen
was found in a jacal (illustrated in plate VI) on Rada Ballena, within
a few hours after abandonment, in the position in which it was hastily
left by the last users; it was smeared with blood and fat (which still
remain, as is shown in plate XXXV) and bits of flesh, and bore bloody
finger prints of two sizes—those of a man and those of a woman or large
child; beside it lay the hupf depicted in plate XLII. In its last use
the unwieldly cobble served as an ahst, but the markings on the edge
record use also as a hand implement.
[296] This, like the other illustrations of the series (except plate
LVI, which is a lithograph, partly process and partly handwork), are
photo-mechanical reproductions made directly from the objects; all are
natural size unless otherwise specified.
A functionally similar implement is illustrated in plate XXXVII (on
reduced scale; maximum length 8¼ inches=21.0 cm.). It is of tough
but slightly vesicular and pulverulent volcanic tuff, pinkish-buff
in color, and weighs 4 pounds 1 ounce (1.84 kilograms). The form and
surface are almost wholly natural, save for slight battering about
the larger end and severer battering, with the dislodgment of a
flake, about the thinner end; yet the faces are smeared with blood
and grease and flecked with turtle debris, and bear a few marks of
hupf blows, as is shown in the reproduction. This specimen was found
at a temporary camp of a small party on Punta Miguel, where it had
been used in breaking up a turtle—the camp having been abandoned so
precipitately that a considerable part of the quarry, with this hupf,
the ahst illustrated in plate LIV, the turtle-harpoon shown in figure
20, the half-made fire, and the fire-sticks used in kindling it, were
left behind. The specimen is a good example of the cobbles carried into
portions of the territory lacking the material (the camp at which it
was found was on the great sandspit forming the eastern barrier of Boca
Infierno, several miles from the nearest pebbly shore); it is of less
specific gravity than the average rocks of the region, and looks still
lighter by reason of its color and texture. Similar cobbles abound
along the eastern coast of Tiburon, being derived from the immense
volcanic masses of Sierra Kunkaak.
About the more permanent rancherias and on many abandoned sites
lie ahsts usually too heavy for convenient transportation. In the
habitable jacales such stones form regular household appurtenances,
without which the menage is deemed incomplete; though the implement
is commonly kicked about at random, often buried in debris (perhaps
to be completely lost, and brought to light only by geologic changes,
as demonstrated by the shell-heap of Punta Antigualla), and pressed
into service only in case of need. An exceptionally well-worn specimen
of the kind is illustrated in plate XXXVIII (scale one-half linear;
maximum width measured on base, 9¼ inches=23.5 cm.). The material is
a hard, ferruginous, almost jaspery quartzite, somewhat obscurely
laminated. It weighs 10 pounds 11 ounces (4.85 kilograms). It is a
natural slab, evidently from a talus rather than the shore, its native
locus being probably the western slope of Sierra Seri. The edges and
apex are formed by natural fractures; the most-used face (that shown
in the plate) is a natural structure plane; the obverse side is partly
a similar plane, partly irregular; while the base is an irregular
fracture, evidently due to accident after the specimen had been long in
use, though the fracture occurred years or decades ago, as indicated by
the weathering of the surfaces. The entire face of the slab is worn and
more or less polished by use as a metate, the wear culminating toward
the center of the base (evidently the center of the original slab),
where the hollowing reaches some three-sixteenths of an inch (5 mm.);
yet even in the depths of the incipient basin the polished surface
is broken by irregular pitting of a sort indicating occasional use
as an anvil. The edges are quite unworn, but the smoother portion of
the obverse is worn and polished like the face, though to a less
degree. The specimen was found at a recently occupied jacal, midway
between Punta Antigualla and Punta Ygnacio; it lay in the position
of use, though half concealed by a cholla thrown over it, with the
hupf shown in plate LVI; it was soaked with fat and smeared with the
debris and intestinal contents of a turtle, as partly shown in the
illustration.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXVII
DOMESTIC ANVIL (REDUCED), TOP AND SIDE]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXVIII
METATE (REDUCED), EDGE AND TOP]
The largest ahst seen in Seriland is illustrated in plates XXXIX and
XL, on a scale of one-third linear (its maximum length being 15⅜
inches=39.5 cm.); it is a dark, fine-grained silicious schist or
quartzite, quite obscurely laminated; it weighs 33 pounds 8 ounces
(15.20 kilograms). It is a natural slab, probably washed from a talus
and slightly wave-worn; it might have come originally from either
the southwestern flanks of Sierra Seri or the more southerly half of
Sierra Kunkaak—certainly hundreds of similar slabs strew the eastern
shore of Bahia Kunkaak, while the western shore, especially about Punta
Narragansett, would yield thousands. Its artificial features (aside
from miscellaneous battering) are limited to grinding of the two faces
defined by structure planes. The principal face is abraded into an
oblong or spoon-shape basin, about 8 inches (20 cm.) long, 5 inches
(16 cm.) broad, and fully three-fourths of an inch (2 cm.) deep, the
basin penetrating two or three laminæ of the slab in such wise as to
produce the annular markings faintly shown in plate XXXIX; the obverse
is slightly rubbed and ground and somewhat battered, like the face of
the preceding specimen; and both sides are flecked with a fine but dark
flour-like substance (doubtless derived from grinding mesquite beans,
etc.) forced into the texture of the stone by the grinding process. The
entire slab is greasy and blood-stained, while battered spots about the
edges and angles of the principal face record considerable use as an
anvil for breaking up quarry—indeed, shreds of turtle flesh and bits of
intestinal debris still lodge in some of the interstices. The specimen
was taken from the old rancheria at the base of Punta Tormenta, where
it had apparently been in desultory use for generations.
A sort of connecting link between ahst and hupf is afforded by elongate
beach pebbles, such as that illustrated in plate XLI, which lay beside
the large ahst last described, and which bears a few inconspicuous
marks of use in slight battering at both ends, with a few shreds of
turtle flesh about the blunter extremity (at the right on the plate).
The specimen is shown natural size; it is of pinkish-gray trachyte
(?), and weighs 1 pound 12 ounces (0.79 kilograms). It is noteworthy
chiefly as an illustration of the Seri mode of seizing and using
hand-implements (a mode repeatedly observed at Costa Rica in 1894);
the pebble comfortably fits the Caucasian hand, held hammerwise; it
is intuitively grasped in this way, and when so seized and used with
an outward swing forms an effective implement for bone-crushing,
etc., the natural striking-point being near the free end; but the
centripetally moving Seri invariably seizes the specimen in such manner
that the free end is directed inward, while the thumb laps over
the grasped end, when the strokes are directed downward and inward,
the striking-point being the extreme tip of the free end. A similar
specimen is illustrated in plate XLII. It is of tough and homogeneous
hornblende-granite, somewhat shorter and broader than its homologue,
but of exactly the same weight; it, too, is battered at the ends, but
is otherwise quite natural in form. It was collected at Rada Ballena
in conjunction with the ahst illustrated in plate XXXV; and like that
specimen it is soaked with blood and fat, and bore shreds of flesh when
found. Both these elongate cobbles are of interest as representatives
of a somewhat aberrant type; for the favorite form of hupf is shorter
and thicker, as shown by the prevailing shapes, both in use and lying
about the jacales—indeed, the elongate form is seldom used on the coast
and never carried into the interior.
A typical hupf is illustrated in plate XLIII. The specimen is of
fine-grained, dense, and massive quartzite, its homogeneity being
interrupted only by a thin seam of infiltrated silica and by an obscure
structure-plane brought out by weathering toward the thinner end.
Its weight is 1 pound 14 ounces (0.85 kilogram). In general form and
surface the specimen is an absolutely natural pebble, such as may
be found in thousands along the shores of Seriland. Its artificial
features are limited to slight battering about the edges, especially
at the thinner end; partial polishing of the lateral edges by repeated
handling (as imperfectly shown in the edge view); very perceptible
polishing of both faces by use as a grinder; some fire-blackening on
both sides; semisaturation with grease and blood; and the flecks of
red face-paint shown in the reproduction. The specimen was obtained
at Costa Rica after some days’ observation of its use. The chief
observed functions of this implement were as follows: (1) Skinning
the leg of a partially consumed horse; this was done by means of
centripetal (i. e., downward and inward) blows, so directed that the
thinner end fell obliquely on the tissue, bruising and tearing it with
considerable rapidity. (2) Severing tough tendons already sawed nearly
through by rubbing over the edge of an ahst, the hupf in this case
being in the hands of a coadjutor and used in rather random strokes
whenever the tissue seemed particularly refractory. (3) Knocking off
the parboiled hoof of a horse to give access to the coffinbone. (4)
Crushing and splintering bones to facilitate sucking of the marrow.
(5) Grinding mesquite beans; the process being begun by vertical
blows with the end of the implement on a heap of the pods resting on
an ahst, continued by blows with the side, and finished by kneading
and rubbing motions similar to those of grinding on a metate. (6)
Pounding shelled corn mixed with slack lime, in a ludicrously futile
attempt to imitate Mexican cookery. (7) Chopping trees; in this
case the implement was grasped in the centripetal manner and used
in pounding and bruising the wood at the point of greatest bending
under the pull of a coadjutor. (8) Cleaving and breaking wood
for fuel. (9) Dethorning okatilla stems, by sweeping centripetal
strokes delivered adzwise from top toward butt of a bunch of stems
lying on the ground. (10) Severing a stout hair cord; in this use it
was grasped between the knees of a matron squatting on the ground,
while the cord was held in both hands and sawed to and fro over the
use-roughened thinner end. (11) Supporting a kettle (shown in plate
X) as one of the fire-stones used in frontier mimicry of the Papago
custom. (12) Triturating face-paint by pounding and kneading; in one
case the specimen served as a hand implement, while in another case
it took the place of the ahst, the ocher lump itself being struck and
rubbed against it. (13) Beating a troop of dogs from a pile of bedding
in a jacal; in this use the implement was held in the customary manner
and used in swift centripetal blows, the matron relying on her own
swiftness and reach and not at all on projection to come within reach
of her moving targets; the blows usually landed well astern, and were
so vicious and vigorous as to have killed the agile brutes had they
chanced to fall squarely—indeed, one blow temporarily paralyzed a
large cur, which escaped only by running on its fore feet and dragging
its hind quarters. In most of these uses the specimen was employed in
conjunction with an improvised ahst in the form of a stone carried from
the rancho. Several of the processes, notably those of tissue-tearing
and dog-beating, were executed with a vigor and swiftness quite
distinct from the sluggish lounging of the ordinary daytide and,
indeed, partaking of the fierce exaltation normal to the Seri chase.
When not in use the implement usually lay just within the open end of
the owner’s jacal, though it was often displaced and sometimes kicked
about the patio for hours. It was one of perhaps a dozen similar
implements brought across the desert from the coast by as many matrons.
All were regarded as personal belongings pertaining to the custodians
about as definitely as articles of apparel, though rather freely
loaned, especially in the owner’s clan. The specimen was purchased
from the possessor, who parted from it rather reluctantly, though with
the tacit approval of her clanswomen, at a rate implying considerable
appreciation of real or supposed value. Three or four other matrons
declined to barter their hupfs, either arbitrarily or on the plea that
they were a long way from the source of supply.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIX
LONG-USED METATE (REDUCED), TOP]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XL
LONG-USED METATE (REDUCED), BOTTOM]
A common variety of hupf is illustrated in plate XLIV. It is of
pinkish, slaty tuff of rather low specific gravity, somewhat vesicular
and pulverulent, though moderately hard and tough. It weighs 17 ounces
(0.48 kilogram). In form and surface it is essentially a waveworn
pebble, doubtless derived originally from the volcanic deposits of
Sierra Kunkaak. Its artificial markings are limited to slight battering
about the edges, especially at the thinner end (as shown in the edge
view); slight rubbing, striation, and semipolishing of the smoother
face (shown in the plate); a few grease spots and a stain showing
use in crushing sappy vegetal matter, also on this face; and an
inconspicuous fire-mark on the obverse. It was found in a recently
abandoned jacal near Campo Navidad. It is one of the three tuff
specimens among those collected, one of a dozen or two seen; perhaps 10
per cent of the implements observed in Seriland are of this material,
and it is significant that this ratio is several times larger than the
proportion of tuff pebbles to the entire paving of the beaches, so that
the material seems to be a preferred one. The preference was indeed
discovered at Costa Rica in 1894, where two or three of the more highly
prized hupfs were of this material, and where vague intimations were
obtained that it is especially favored for meal-making, doubtless by
reason of the association of color and texture—associations that mean
much to the primitive mind, perhaps in suggesting that the grinding
is easier when done by a soft implement. An economic reason for the
preference is easily found in the lower specific gravity, and hence the
greater portability of a hupf of ordinary size, of this material; but
there is nothing to indicate that this economic factor is weighed or
even apperceived by the Seri.
A typical pebble bearing slight marks of use is illustrated in plate
XLV. It is of fine-grained pinkish sandstone, probably tuffaceous,
and is fairly hard and quite tough; it weighs 1 pound 9 ounces (0.71
kilogram). It is wholly natural in form and surface save for slight
battering or pecking on the face illustrated, and for a few stains of
grease and abundant marks of fire. It was found in a fire still burning
(and abandoned within a half-hour, as indicated by other signs) two or
three miles inland from Punta Granita on the Seri trail toward Aguaje
Parilla, whither it had evidently been carried from the coast.
A fairly common material for both hupfs and ahsts is highly vesicular
basalt grading into pumice stone, the material corresponding fairly
with a favorite metate material among the Mexicans. The rock was not
certainly traced to its source, but seems to come from the northern
part of Sierra Kunkaak. A typical hupf of this material is shown in
plate XLVI; it weighs 1 pound 13 ounces (0.82 kilogram). It is wholly
natural in every respect save for slight grinding and subpolishing,
with some filling of interstices, on both faces. From the slight
wear of this specimen, together with the absence of battering, and
from similar features presented by others of the class, it maybe
inferred that implements of this material are habitually used only for
grinding—for which purpose they are admirably adapted. The specimen
emphasizes the importance of the hupf in Seri thought, for it was one
of a small series of mortuary sacrifices from a tomb at Pozo Escalante
(ante, p. 290).
Throughout the surveys of Seriland, constant search was made for
cutting implements of stone; and the nearest approach to success
was exemplified by the specimen illustrated in plate XLVII. It is
of bluish-gray volcanic rock (not specifically identified) of close
texture and decided toughness and hardness; it weighs 10 ounces (0.28
kilogram). In greater part its form and surface are natural, but a
projecting portion brought out by weathering on one side is split
off, presumably by intention, and the fractured surface thus produced
is partly smoothed by rubbing, probably in use, though possibly by
design. The edges are more or less battered, especially at the ends,
and several rude flakes have been knocked off, evidently at random and
presumably in ordinary use as an ahst. The smoother face is wholly
natural. The specimen was picked up in a jacal at Rada Ballena, but
bore no marks of recent use.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLI
NATURAL PEBBLE BEARING SLIGHT MARKS OF USE]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLII
NATURAL PEBBLE USED AS BONE-CRUSHER]
A tuff implement of suggestively ax-like form is shown in plate
XLVIII; it is firmer and less pulverulent but more vesicular
than most implements of its class; it weighs but 7 ounces (0.20
kilogram). The specimen was picked up in a ruinous jacal, which had
evidently been occupied temporarily within a fortnight, on the summit
of the great shell-mound forming Punta Antigualla. The somewhat
indefinite texture and color render it difficult to distinguish between
natural and artificial features; but careful examination indicates
that it is wholly natural in form and in nine-tenths of the surface,
and that the ax-like shape expresses nothing more than accidents of
structure and wave-work. This interpretation is practically established
by the slight battering along the edges and about the smaller end, as
illustrated in the edge view; for this wear of use, which has produced
a distinctive surface, is practically absent from the notches which
give the ax-like effect. Besides the battering, the only artificial
marks are ancient fire-stains on one of the faces. On the whole it is
clear that the artificial appearance catching the eye at first glance
is purely fortuitous, and that the specimen is but a natural pebble
very slightly modified by ordinary use.
A suggestive specimen is illustrated in plate XLIX; it is of
purplish-gray granitoid rock, of decided toughness and considerable
hardness, and weighs 12½ ounces (0.35 kilogram). The surface and
general form indicate that it is a natural pebble entirely without
marks of artificial use; but the regular curvature of the principal
face (the shape is that of a segment of a cylinder rounded toward
the ends) suggests artificial shaping, while it was found far in the
interior, near Barranca Salina, whither it must have been carried from
the coast. It may possibly be a fragment of a pestle subsequently
wave-worn; but all the probabilities are that it is wholly natural, and
that its suggestive features are fortuitous.
The constant search for chipped or flaked tools which was extended
over nearly all Seriland seldom met the slightest reward; but the
specimen shown in plate L was deemed of some interest in connection
with the search. It is of hard and tough greenstone, showing obscure
and irregular structure lines, though nearly homogeneous in texture;
it weighs 10 ounces (0.28 kilogram). It is primarily a natural pebble
with form and surface reflecting structure and texture in connection
with wave-action. Its artificial features are limited to the usual
slight battering of the smaller end, still less conspicuous battering
or grinding of the margin about the larger end, slight but suggestive
chipping of the thinner edge, inconspicuous hand-wear and polish on
the principal face, and a few obscure scratches or striæ on the same
face, as illustrated in the plate. The position and character of the
flake-fractures, which are fairly shown in the edge view, indicate that
they were made while the pebble was in use as a bruising or cutting
tool, a use at once suggested to the Caucasian mind by the form of
the pebble; yet it is noteworthy that its thin edge displays less
battering than either end of the object and no more than the opposite
and thicker edge, while it is still more significant that the specimen
was apparently discarded immediately on the modification of form by
the spalling—a modification greatly increasing its efficiency, as all
habitual users of chipped stone tools would realize. The specimen is
one of a large number of examples showing that whenever a hupf is
broken in use it is regarded as ruined, and is immediately thrown away.
This particular specimen is archaic; it was found in the cliff-face of
the great shell-heap at Punta Antigualla, embedded in a tiny stratum
of ashes and charcoal (some of which still adheres, as shown in the
black flecking at the outer end of the striæ), associated with scorched
clamshells, typical Seri potsherds, etc., some 40 feet beneath the
surface.
While the great majority of the hupfs are mere pebbles bearing slight
trace of artificial wear, as illustrated by the foregoing examples,
others bear traces of use so extended as to more or less completely
artificialize the surface. A typical long-used hupf is depicted in
plates LI and LII. It is a tough and hard quartzite, dark gray or
brown in color, massive and homogeneous in texture; it weighs 2 pounds
4 ounces (1.02 kilograms). In general form it is a typical wave-worn
pebble of its material, and might be duplicated in thousands along the
shores of Bahia Kunkaak and El Infiernillo; but fully a third of its
surface has been more or less modified by use. The flatter face (plate
LI) is smeared with blood, grease, and charcoal, which have been ground
into the stone by friction of the hand of the user in such manner as to
form a kind of skin or veneer; portions of the face bear a subpolish,
due probably to the hand-rubbing in use; near the center there is a
rough pit about an eighth of an inch (3 mm.) deep, evidently produced
by pecking or battering with metal, while three or four neighboring
scratches penetrating the veneer appear to record ill-directed strokes
of a rather sharp metal point. In the light of observed customs it may
be inferred that this pitting was produced by use of the implement as
an anvil or ahst in sharpening a harpoon-point and fitting it into its
foreshaft. The thinner edge (shown in plate LI; that toward the right
in the face view on the same plate) displays considerable battering
of the kind characteristic of Seri hupfs in general; it is smoked
and fire-stained, as shown, while the lower rounded corner is worn
away by battering to a depth of probably one-fourth inch (5 mm.). The
obverse face reveals more clearly the battering about both corners and
edges, including the dislodgment of a flake toward the narrower
end; but its most conspicuous feature is a broad subpolished facet
(rounding slightly toward the thinner edge) produced by grinding on a
flat-surface ahst. This face, too, exhibits fire-staining, while the
surface beyond the facet—and to a slight extent the facet itself—is
veneered like the other face. There are a few scratches on this side
also, as well as a slight pitting due to contact with metal. The
thicker edge (plate LII) displays considerable battering, especially a
recent pitting near the middle evidently due to use as an anvil held
between the knees for sharpening a harpoon point by rude hammering.
The specimen was one of a score of implements lying about the interior
of the principal jacal in the great rancheria at the base of Punta
Tormenta (illustrated in plate VII).
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLIII
LITTLE-WORN PEBBLE USED FOR ALL DOMESTIC PURPOSES]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLIV
NATURAL PEBBLE USED AS CRUSHER AND GRINDER]
A related specimen, though of somewhat aberrant form, is illustrated
in plate LIII. It is of peculiarly tough and quite hard greenstone and
weighs 2 pounds 1 ounce (0.93 kilogram). Somewhat less than half of the
surface is that of a wave-worn pebble; the remainder is either battered
out of all semblance to wave-work, or thumb-worn by long-continued
use. The object well illustrates the choice of the most prominently
projecting portion of the hand-implement as the point of percussion,
and consequently the concentrated wear on such portions whereby the
object is gradually reduced to better-rounded and more symmetric form.
This specimen displays some minor flaking, apparently connected with
the battering and regarded by the user as subordinate to the general
wear. It was found at Punta Tormenta, concealed in the wall of a jacal,
as if preserved for special use.
One of the best-known examples of a use-perfected hupf is illustrated
in plate LIV. It is of coarse-grained but massive and homogeneous
granite, similar to that forming Punta Blanca, Punta Granita, and,
indeed, much of the eastern coast of Bahia Kunkaak. It weighs 1 pound
10 ounces (0.74 kilogram). In general form it is just such a pebble as
is produced from this material by wave-wear, and might be duplicated
along the shores in numbers. The artificial surfaces comprise (1)
both ends, which are battered in the usual manner; (2) both lateral
edges, of which one is slightly battered and worn, while the other
is somewhat battered and also notched, evidently by a chance blow
and the dislodgment of a flake; (3) both faces, which are flattened
by grinding, while one of them (that shown in the plate) is slightly
pitted, evidently by metal-working; so that the natural surface is
restricted to small areas about the corners. The implement was found at
the camp site on Punta Miguel, already noted (page 189), whence a group
of five Seri were frightened by the approach of the 1895 expedition;
it was covered with blood and shreds of turtle flesh, and is still
saturated with grease. Moreover, it is quite confidently identified
(not only by form and material, but especially by the fortuitous notch)
as a hupf seen repeatedly at Costa Rica in 1894; it was the property of
a matron of the Pelican clan (whose portrait appears in plate XXII),
who was observed to use it for various industrial purposes, and who
refused to part with it for any consideration.
A still more beautiful example of Seri stone art is depicted in plate
LV. It is of the same homogeneous and coarse-grained granite as the
last specimen, and closely approaches it in dimensions; it is slightly
longer and broader, but somewhat thinner, and weighs 1 pound 11 ounces
(0.77 kilogram); and, except for the absence of the accidental notch,
its artificial features are still more closely similar. The ends are
slightly battered, as illustrated in the end view at the right of
the plate; the edges are similarly worn, but to a less extent; while
both sides have been symmetrically faceted by use in grinding, the
facets being straight in the longitudinal direction but slightly
curved in the transverse direction, in the shape of the Mexican mano.
The specimen displays well-marked color distinctions between the
artificially worn and the natural surfaces, the former being gray
and the latter weathered to yellowish or pinkish-brown; these colors
show that something like two-thirds of the surface is artificial and
the intervening third natural; and the natural portion corresponds
in every respect, not only in form but in condition of surface, with
the granite cobbles of Seriland’s stormy shores. Unfortunately the
color distinctions, with the limits of faceting and other artificial
modifications, are obscure in the photomechanical reproduction; they
are indicated more clearly in the outline drawing oversheet. The
specimen is partially saturated with fat, and bears an ocher stain
attesting use in the preparation of face-paint. It was found carefully
wrapped in a parcel with the shell paint-cup illustrated in plate
XXVII, a curlew mandible, two or three hawk feathers, and a tuft of
pelican down (the whole evidently forming the fetish or medicine-bag of
a shamanistic elderwoman), in an out-of-the-way nook in the wall of an
abandoned jacal at Punta Narragansett.
A somewhat asymmetric though otherwise typical hupf is illustrated
in natural colors in plate LVI. It is of andesite, and may have come
originally either from the extensive volcanics of southern Sierra Seri
or central Sierra Kunkaak; it weighs 1 pound 15 ounces (0.88 kilogram).
The general form is that of a wave-worn cobble, and fully one-third of
the surface retains the natural character save for slight smoothing
through hand friction in use. The chief artificial modification is
the faceting of both sides in nearly plain and approximately parallel
faces, the maximum thickness of material removed from each side,
estimated from the curvature of the adjacent natural surface, being
perhaps three-sixteenths of an inch (5 millimeters); in addition, both
ends are battered in the usual fashion, while the thinner and more
projecting edge is battered still more extensively, in a way at once
subserving convenient use and tending to increase the symmetry of form.
One of the facets is quite smooth; the other (that on the right in the
plate) is slightly pitted, as if by use in metal-working. The specimen
is somewhat greasy—the normal condition of the hupf—and bears
conspicuous records of its latest uses; both faces (more especially
the pitted one) are stained with sap from green vegetal substance
(probably immature mesquite pods), while one face is brilliantly marked
with ocher in such manner as to indicate that a lump of face-paint was
partially pulverized by grinding on the slightly rough surface. It was
found, together with the ahst illustrated in plate XXXVIII,
in the rear of a recently occupied jacal midway between Punta
Antigualla and Punta Ygnacio, cached beneath a thorny cholla cactus
uprooted and dragged thither for the purpose. The trail and other signs
indicated that the jacal had been occupied for a few days and up to
within twenty-four hours by a family group of six or seven persons;
that it was vacated suddenly at or about the time of arrival of the
party of five whose trail was followed by the 1895 expedition from
Punta Antigualla to Punta Miguel (where they were interrupted in the
midst of a meal and frightened to Tiburon); and that the larger party
fled toward the rocky fastnesses of southern Sierra Seri.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLV
NATURAL PEBBLE SLIGHTLY USED AS HAMMER AND ANVIL]
* * * * *
Of the foregoing hupfs several are aberrant, and serve merely to
illustrate the prevailing directions of departure from the optimum form
and size of implements. Six of the specimens may be deemed typical;
they are as follows:
Plate | Locality | Material | Weight | Condition
No. | | | |
-------+--------------+----------+---------------+-----------------
| | | _Lb. Ozs._ |
XLIII |Costa Rica |Quartzite |1 14 (0.85 kg.)| Nearly natural.
| | | |
XLIV |Campo Navidad |Tuff |1 1 ( .48 kg.)| Four-fifths
| | | | natural.
XLVI |Pozo |Vesicular |1 13 ( .82 kg.)| Nearly natural.
| Escalante | lava. | |
LIV |Punta Miguel |Granite |1 10 ( .74 kg.)| One-fifth natural.
LV |Punta | do |1 11 ( .77 kg.)| One-fourth natural.
| Narragansett| | |
LVI |South point |Andesite |1 15 (.88 kg.) | One-third
| Sierra Seri.| | | natural.
-------+--------------+----------+---------------+-----------------
From these specimens a type of Seri hand implement may easily be
formulated: it is a wave-worn pebble or cobble of (1) granite,
quartzite, or other tough and hard rock, (2) tuff, or other light and
pulverulent rock, or (3) vesicular lava; it is of flattened ovoid
form, or of biscuit shape; it weighs a trifle under 2 pounds (about
0.85 kilogram); originally the form and surface are wholly natural,
but through the chance of use it is modified (_a_) by a battering
of the ends and more projecting edges, and (_b_) by grinding and
consequent truncation of the sides; though initially a natural pebble,
chosen nearly at random from the beach, it eventually becomes personal
property, acquires fetishistic import, and is buried with the owner at
her death.
The ahsts and the heavier cobbles used alternatively as ahsts and hupfs
are too fortuitous for reduction to type; while the protean pebbles
utilized in emergency, and commonly discarded after a single use, are
too numerous and too various for convenient or useful grouping.
* * * * *
There is a distinctive type of Seri stone artifacts represented by
a single category of objects, viz., chipped arrowpoints. Several of
the literary descriptions of the folk—particularly those based on
second-hand information, and far-traveled rumor—credit the Seri with
habitual use of stone-tipped arrows,[297] and it is the current fashion
among both Mexican and Indian residents of Sonora to ascribe to the
Seri any shapely arrowpoint picked up from plain or valley; yet the
observations among the tribesmen and in their haunts disclose but
slight basis for classing the Seri with the aboriginal arrow-makers of
America.
[297] The most specific reference is that of Hardy: “The men use bows
and stone-pointed arrows; but whether they are poisoned, I do not
know.” Travels, p. 290.
[Illustration: FIG. 37—Seri arrowpoints.]
Among the 60 Seri (including 17 or 18 warriors) at Costa Rica in 1894,
three bows and four quivers of arrows were observed, besides a number
of stray arrows, chiefly in the hands of striplings. The arrows seen
numbered some 60 or 70, including perhaps 20 “poisoned” specimens;
nearly half of them were tipped with hoop-iron, as illustrated in plate
XXX, while about as many more were fitted only with the customary
foreshafts (usually sharpened and hardened by charring), and the
small remainder had evidently lost iron tips in use; there was not
a single stone-tipped arrow in the rancheria. Moreover, when the
usually incisive and confident Mashém was asked for the Seri term for
stone arrowpoint he was taken aback, and was unable to answer until
after lengthy conference with other members of the tribe—his manner
and that of his mates clearly indicating ignorance of such a term
rather than the desire to conceal information so frequently manifested
in connection with esoteric matters; and the term finally obtained
(_ahst-ahk_, connoting stone and arrow) is the same as that used to
denote the arrowpoint of hoop-iron. The most reasonable inference
from the various facts is that whatsoever might have been the customs
of their ancestors, the modern Seri are not accustomed to stone
arrow-making.
The 1895 expedition was slightly more successful in the search for
Seri arrows. About midway between the abandoned Rancho Libertad and
Barranca Salina, an ancient Seri site was found to yield hundreds of
typical potsherds, half a dozen shells such as those used for utensils,
the fragments of a hupf evidently shattered by use as a fire-stone,
and the small rudely chipped arrowpoint shown in figure 37_a_; and
among the numerous relics found on a knoll overlooking Pozo Escalante
(including two jacal frames, two or three graves, an ahst, several
shells and discarded hupfs, a broken fictile figurine, etc.), was
the still ruder arrowpoint represented in figure 37_b_ (both figures
are natural size). The specimens are nearly identical in material—a
jet-black slaty rock with a few lighter flecks interspersed, weathering
gray on long exposure (as is shown by the partly natural surface of
the larger point); similar rock abounds in several easterly spurs of
Sierra Seri. The smaller specimen was evidently finished and used; its
features indicate fairly skilful chipping, though its general form is
crude—in addition to the asymmetric shouldering, the entire point is
curved laterally in such manner as to interfere with accurate archery.
The larger specimen is still more strongly curved laterally, and the
chipping is childishly crude; while the rough surface, clumsy tang, and
unfinished air indicate that it was never used even to the extent of
shafting. It is possible that the specimens may have been imported by
aliens, but the probabilities are strong that they were manufactured
by the Seri. No other arrowpoints and no chips or spalls suggesting
stone arrow-making were found in all Seriland, though the entire party
of twelve were on constant lookout for them for a month. The natural
inference from these facts is that the ancestral Seri, like their
descendants, were not habitual stone arrow-makers.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLVI
NATURAL PEBBLE SLIGHTLY USED AS GRINDER]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLVII
NATURAL PEBBLE SLIGHTLY USED AS DOMESTIC IMPLEMENT]
* * * * *
There is a final category of Seri artifacts which would be classed
as distinctive by Caucasians on the basis of material, though they
are combined with the stone artifacts by the tribesmen; it comprises
arrowpoints of hoop-iron or other metal, harpoon-points of nails,
spikes, or wire, awls of like materials, and other metallic adjuncts
to ordinary implements. The use of iron is of course post-Columbian,
and its ordinary sources are wreckage and stealage. The date of
introduction is unknown, and probably goes back to the days of Cortés
and Mendoza; certainly the value of metal was so well understood in
1709 that when Padre Salvatierra’s bilander was beached in Seriland
the tribesmen at once began to break her up for the nails (ante, page
67); yet the metal is wrought cold and only with hupf and ahst like
the local materials, and is habitually regarded and designated as a
stone. By reason of the primitive methods of working, the metals are
of course available only when in small pieces or slender shapes. There
is a tradition among the vaqueros of the frontier that a quantity of
hoop-iron designed for use in making casks was carried away from a
rancheria in the vicinity of Bacuachito during a raid in the seventies,
and that this stock has ever since served to supply the Seri with
material for their arrowpoints; but it is probable that the chief
supply is derived from the flotsam swept into the natural drift trap
of Bahia Kunkaak by prevailing winds and tidal currents, and cast up
on the long sandspit of Punta Tormenta after every storm. A surprising
quantity and variety of wreckage was found on this point, and thence
down the coast to Punta Narragansett, by the 1895 expedition: staves
and heads of casks broken up after beaching, a telegraph pole crossbar
which had evidently brought in a cargo of large wire, and a piece of
door-frame with heavy strap-iron hinges attached with screws, were
among the troves of the tribesmen within a few weeks; and it was noted
that while even the hinge screws and the tacks attaching tags to the
cask-heads had been extracted by breaking up the wood, the roughly
forged hinges of 2 by ⅜-inch wrought iron had been abandoned after a
tentative battering with cobbles, and lay among the refuse stones about
the jacales.
* * * * *
A rough census of the stone implements of Seriland is not without
interest, even though it be no more than an approximation. Some 20 or
25 habitable and recently inhabited jacales were visited, with about
twice as many more in various stages of ruin, fully two-thirds of
these being on the island; and at least an equal number of camps or
other houseless sites were noted. About these 150 jacales and sites
there were, say, 50 ahsts, ranging from nearly natural bowlders to the
comparatively well-wrought specimen illustrated in plate XXXIX, and
an equal number of cobbles used interchangeably as ahsts and hupfs;
there were also 200 or 300 pebbles bearing traces of use as hupfs, of
which about a third were worn so decidedly as to attest repeated if not
regular use; while no flaked or spalled implements were observed save
the two doubtful examples illustrated in plates XLVII and L, and only
two chipped arrowpoints. It may be assumed that the sites visited and
the artifacts observed comprise from a tenth to a fifth of those of all
Seriland, in addition to, say, 75 finished hupfs habitually carried by
Seri matrons in their wanderings; and it may be assumed also that 50 or
100 metallic harpoon-points and several hundred hoop-iron arrowpoints
are habitually carried by the warriors and their spouses.
The most impressive fact brought out by this census is the practical
absence of stone artifacts wrought by flaking or chipping in accordance
with preconceived design; excepting the exceedingly rare arrowpoints
there are none of these. And the assemblage of wrought stones
demonstrates not merely that the Seri are practically without flaked or
chipped implements, but that they eschew and discard stones edged by
fracture whether naturally or through accident of use.
* * * * *
Summarily, the Seri artifacts of inorganic material fall into
three groups, viz.: (I) The large and characteristic one comprising
regularly-used hupfs and ahsts, with their little-used and discarded
representatives; (II) the small and aberrant group represented by
chipped arrowpoints, and (III) the considerable group comprising the
cold-wrought metal points for arrows and harpoons and awls—though it is
to be remembered that the Seri themselves combine the second and third
of these groups.
I. On reviewing the artifacts of the larger group it becomes clear
(1) that they immediately reflect environment, in that they are
characteristic natural objects of the territory; (2) that they come
into use as implements through chance demands met by hasty selection
from the abundant material; (3) that the great majority of the
objects so employed are discarded after a use or two; (4) that when
the object proves especially serviceable, and other conditions favor,
it is retained to meet later needs; (5) that the retained objects
are gradually modified in form and surface by repeated use; (6) that
if the modification diminishes the serviceability of the object in
the notion of the user (e. g., by such fracture as to produce sharp
edges), it is discarded; (7) that if the modification enhances the
serviceability of the specimen in the mind of the user it is the more
sedulously preserved; and (8) that through the instinctive desire for
perservation, coupled with the thaumaturgic cast of primitive thinking,
the object acquires at once an artificialized form and a fetishistic
as well as a utilitarian function. The significant feature of the
development is the total absence of foresight or design, save in so
far as the concepts are fiducial rather than technical or directly
industrial.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLVIII
NATURAL PEBBLE SLIGHTLY WORN BY USE]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLIX
NATURAL PEBBLE CONSIDERABLY WORN IN USE AS GRINDER]
II. On reviewing the almost insignificantly small group of chipped
stone artifacts, it seems clear that while the material is local the
design is so incongruous with custom and characteristic thought as to
raise the presumption that stone-chipping is an alien and imperfectly
assimilated craft. The conspicuous and significant feature of the
chipped stone artifact is the shapement in accordance with preconceived
design.
III. On reviewing the arbitrarily separated group of metallic artifacts
it is found clear (1) that the material is foreign; (2) that it is
avidly sought and sedulously saved and utilized; (3) that it is wrought
only by the crude methods used for fashioning the most primitive of
implements and tools; and (4) that it is used chiefly as a substitute
for organic substances employed in symbolic imitation of the natural
organs and functions of animals. The significant features of the use
of iron artifacts are (_a_) the absence of either alien or specialized
designs, and (_b_) the mimicry of bestial characters as conceived in
primitive philosophy.
Classed by material and motive jointly, the three groups are diverse in
important respects: The first is local in material, local in motive;
the second is local in material, foreign in design; the third is
foreign in material, local in motive.
* * * * *
On recapitulating the several phases of Seri handicraft, the devices
are found to fall into genetic classes of such sort as to illumine
certain notable stages of primitive technic.
The initial class comprises teeth, beaks and mandibles, claws, hoofs,
and horns, used in imitation or symbolic mimicry of either actual or
imputed function of animals, chiefly those to which the organs pertain,
together with vegetal spines and stalks or splints, used similarly
under the zootheistic imputation of animal powers to plants; also
carapaces and pelts, used as shields combining actual and symbolic
protective functions. While this class of devices is well displayed by
the Seri, it is by no means peculiar to them; clear vestiges of the
devices have been noted among many Amerind tribes. Now the essential
basis of the industrial motive has been recognized by all profounder
students in zootheism, animism, or hylozoism—indeed, the industrial
stage is but the reflex and expression of the zootheistic or hylozoic
plane in the development of philosophy; while both the devices and
the cultural stage which they represent have already been outlined by
the late Frank Hamilton Cushing, on the basis of surviving vestiges
and prehistoric relics, and characterized as “prelithic”.[298]
Cushing’s designation for the initial stage of technic has the merit of
euphony, and of suggesting the serial place of the stage in industrial
development; but since it denotes a most important class of artifacts
only by exclusion and negation it would seem desirable to supplement
it by a positive term. The class of devices (considered in both
material and functional aspects) and the cultural stage in general
might appropriately be styled hylozoic, though it would seem preferable
to emphasize the actual objective basis of the class and stage by a
specific designation—and for this purpose the term _zoomimetic_ (from
ζω̢̃ον, τὁ and μιμητικὁς), or its simplified equivalent, _zoomimic_,
would seem acceptable.
[298] The Development of Form and Function in Implements; an
unpublished paper presented before the British Association for the
Advancement of Science at the Toronκωto meeting in 1897. A brief
abstract, revised by the author of the paper, was printed in the
American Anthropologist, vol. X, 1897, pp. 325-326; and in the absence
of full authorial publication, the more strictly germane passages of
the abstract are worthy of quotation: “Beginning with the semiarboreal
[human] progenitor indicated jointly by projecting forward the lines
of biotic development and projecting backward the lines of human
development, Mr Cushing undertook to trace hypothetically, yet by
constant reference to known facts, (1) the genesis of artificial
devices, and (2) the concurrent differentiation of the human brain
and body in the directions set forth by Sir William Turner; and he
gave special force to his exposition by frequent reference to commonly
neglected characteristics, physical and psychic, of young infants. He
pointed out that the prototype of man, whether infantile or primitive,
is a clumsy ambidexter, the differentiation of hand and brain remaining
inchoate; that one of the earliest artificial processes is a sawing
movement, in which, however, the object to be severed is moved over
the cutting edge or surface, and that the infant or savage at first
selects sharp objects (teeth, shells, etc.) as cutting implements, and
only after long cultivation learns to make cutting implements of stone;
this early stage in development he called _prelithic_. Passing, then,
to the age of stone, he showed that this substance is first in the form
of natural pebbles or other pieces for hammering, crushing, bruising,
and as a missile. That in time the user learns that the stone is made
more effective for severing tissues by fracturing it in such way as
to give a sharp edge, the fracture being originally accidental and
afterward designed; yet that for a long time it is the hammerstone that
is fractured and not the object against which the blows are directed.
In this stage of development (called _protolithic_, after McGee) stone
implements come into more or less extended use in connection with
implements of shell, tooth, etc.; yet the implements are obtained by
choice among natural pieces and by undesigned improvement of these
through use. The next stage is that of designed shaping through
fracture by blows from a hammerstone, followed by intentional chipping.
This may be regarded as the beginning of paleolithic art, and also
marks the beginning of dexterity and the activital differentiation of
the hands. Incidentally the author brought out the importance of that
concept of mysticism which is found of so great potency among infantile
and primitive minds, in such manner as to suggest the genesis, and the
obscure reasons for the persistence of this phase of intellectuality;
for the inchoate imagination is able to expand only in the direction of
mystical explanation, so that fertility in primitive invention seems to
be dependent on appeal to the mysterious powers of nature. At first the
mystery pervades all things, but in time it is largely concentrated in
animate things; then animate powers are imputed, _e. g._, to physical
phenomena. So to the infant or race-child fire is a mystical animal or
demon which, in prelithic or protolithic times, must have been at first
tolerated, then fed with fuel and punished with water and eventually
subjugated and tamed, much as the real animals were afterward brought
into domestication.”
A transitional series of devices is represented by awls of wood
or iron fashioned in imitation of mandibles or claws, by wooden
foreshafts shaped in symbolic mimicry of teeth, and by other vicarious
replacements of material in devices of zoomimic motive; but this
series may be regarded as constituting a subclass, or as a connecting
link between classes rather than a major class of devices. Yet
the subclass is of great significance as a mile-mark of progress
in nature-conquest, and as the germ of that industrial revolution
consummated as tribesmen grew into reliance on their own acumen and
strength and skill rather than on the capricious favor of beast-gods.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. L
NATURAL PEBBLE CONSIDERABLY WORN AS CUTTER AND GRINDER]
The next major class of devices comprises shells and cobbles and
bowlders picked up at random to meet emergency needs, wielded in ways
determined by emergency adjustment of means to ends, and sometimes
retained and reused under the budding instinct of fitness, though
never shaped by design. The devices of this class are best exemplified
by the tool-shells and by the hupfs and ahsts of the Seri matrons,
partly because of the practical absence of higher artifacts from
their territory; yet the class is by no means confined to this
notably primitive, folk: the greater part of the implements used by
the California Indians and a large part of those used by every other
known Amerind tribe in aboriginal condition consist of shore cobbles,
river pebbles, talus bowlders, or other natural stones of form and
size convenient for emergency use; and (despite the fact that such
objects are often ignored by observers, for the prosaic reason that
they represent no familiar or trenchant class), there is no lack of
evidence that they are or have been in habitual use among all primitive
peoples. Although zootheistic or sortilegic motives doubtless play
an undetermined rôle in the selection of the objects, and although
wonted zoomimic movements doubtless affect the initial processes, the
essential distinction from zoomimic artifacts resides in the selection
and use of natural objects through a mechanical chance tending to
inspire volitional exercise rather than through a fiducial rule tending
to paralyze volitional effort; while the class is no less trenchantly
separable from those of higher grade by the absence of preconceived
models or technical designs. The class of devices and the culture-stage
which they represent have already been outlined and defined as
_protolithic_.[299]
[299] American Anthropologist, vol. IX, 1896, pp. 317-318.
A transitional series of devices allied to the Seri hupf on the one
hand and to the chipped artifact on the other hand is frequently
found among the aborigines of California and other native tribes; it
is typified by a cobble or other natural piece of stone cleft (first
by accident of use and later by design) in such wise as to afford an
edged tool. This subclass of artifacts is religiously eschewed by the
Seri; but it is of much interest as an illustration of the way in which
artificialization proceeds, and of the exceeding slowness of primitive
progress.
The third great class of devices defined by technologic development
comprises stones chipped, flaked, battered, ground, or otherwise
wrought in accordance with preconceived designs, together with
cold-forged native metal, horn, bone, wood, and other substances
wrought in accordance with preconceived models and direct motives.
Among the Seri this class of devices is represented only by the rare
arrowpoints of chipped stone, which seem to be accultural and largely
fetishistic; but the class is abundantly represented by the artifacts
of most of the Amerind tribes. The class and the cultural stage have
already been outlined under the term _technolithic_.[300]
[300] Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1898, pp.
42-43. The long extant and well-known classification of stone
artifacts as “paleolithic” and “neolithic” may not be overlooked. This
classification was based originally on prehistoric relics of Europe,
and it served excellent purpose in distinguishing finely finished
stone implements from those of rudely chipped stone; but both classes
of artifacts were shaped in accordance with preconceived design, and
hence both belong to the technolithic class as herein defined. It may
be added that the classification was made with little if any reference
to primitive thought, was not based on observation among primitive
peoples, and has not been found to apply usefully to the aborigines
and aboriginal artifacts of America, where the representative tribe
or prehistoric village site is characterized by implements of both
“paleolithic” and “neolithic” types which intergrade in such manner as
to prove contemporaneous manufacture and interchangeable use; while the
preponderance of polished-stone implements is generally indicative of
simpler rather than of more advanced culture.
A transitional series of devices intervenes between stone artifacts
and artifacts of smelted metal; it is represented by malleable native
metals (chiefly copper, silver, meteoric iron, and gold), originally
wrought cold, after the manner of stone, though heating under the
hammer in such wise as to prepare the way for forging, fusing,
and founding. These devices and the processes with which they are
correlated are not represented among the Seri; indeed, the crude use
of iron by the tribe would seem to lie on a lower plane in industrial
development than even the arrowpoint-chipping, in that the artifacts,
though of foreign material, are wrought largely in accordance with
zoomimic motives.
The fourth major class of devices, comprising the multifarious
artifacts of smelted and alloyed metal, was barely represented in
aboriginal America; only a few of the more advanced tribes had
attained the threshold of metallurgy, and even among these the crude
metal working remained hieratic or esthetic, and did not displace the
prevalent stone craft.
* * * * *
Briefly, the several stages in the development of tools and implements
may be seriated as follows:
-------------------+-----------------+-------------------------+-------------------
Stages |Typical materials| Typical products | Essential ideas
-------------------+-----------------+-------------------------+-------------------
1. Zoomimic |Bestial organs |Awls, spears, harpoons, | Zootheistic faith.
| | arrows. |
A. Transitional|Symbolized organs|Piercing and tearing | Faith + craft.
| | implements. |
2. Protolithic |Natural stones |Hammers and grinders-- | Mechanical chance.
| | hupfs and ahsts. |
B. Transitional|Cleft stones |Grinders and cutters | Chance + craft.
3. Technolithic |Artificialized |Chipped, battered, | Designed shapement
| stones. | and polished implements.| by molar
| | | action.
C. Transitional|Malleable native |Copper celts, gold | Designed shapement
| metals. | ornaments, etc. | by molar
| | | action + chance
| | | heating.
4. Metal |Smelted ores |Steel tools, etc. | Shapement by
| | | molar and molecular
| | | action.
-------------------+-----------------+------------------+-------------------
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LI
NATURAL PEBBLE CONSIDERABLY USED AS HAMMER, GRINDER, AND ANVIL (TOP AND
EDGE)]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LII
NATURAL PEBBLE CONSIDERABLY USED AS HAMMER, GRINDER, AND ANVIL (BOTTOM
AND EDGE)]
It is to be realized that the successive stages represent
characteristic phases of normal and continuous growth, and hence that
their relations are intimate and complex. The fundamental factor of
the growth is intellectual advancement, and hence in actual life each
stage is at once the germ and the foundation for the next higher; each
stage is characterized by a type or a cognate series of types, yet
each commonly contains a few forms prophetic of the next stage and
many forms vestigial of the earlier stages; so that the stages are to
be likened unto successive generations of organisms, or (still more
appropriately) to the successive phases of ovum, larva, pupa, and imago
in the ontogeny of the insect rather than to the arbitrary classes of
pigeonhole arrangements. The complex relations conceived to exist among
the stages can be indicated more clearly by diagraphic representation
than by typographic arrangement, and such a representation is
introduced as figure 38. The successive curves in the diagram express
the rhythmic character of progress and the cumulative value of its
interrelated factors, as well as the dominance of successive types
until gradually sapped and absorbed (though not immediately or
completely annihilated) by higher types reflecting a strengthened
mentality.
[Illustration: FIG. 38—Diagrammatic outline of industrial development.]
* * * * *
The place of the normal pacific industries of the Seri in this genetic
classification of human technic is definite. The Seri craft combines
the features of the zoomimic and protolithic stages more completely
than that of any other known folk, and in such wise as to reveal the
relations between these stages and that next higher in the series with
unparalleled clearness; their craft also displays an aberrant (and
hence presumptively accultural) feature pertaining to the technolithic
stage; and in so far as their craftsmen use the material typical of
the age of metal they degrade it to the transitional substage between
dominant zoomimicry and designless stone-using.
Viewed in the general light of their pacific industries, the Seri are,
accordingly, among the most primitive of known tribes; their technic is
in harmony with their esthetic, and also with their somatic and tribal
characteristics, in attesting a lowly plane of development; while
their industries, like their other demotic features, are essentially
autochthonous.
WARFARE
Something is known of Seri warfare through the history of the centuries
since 1540, and especially through the bloody episodes of the Encinas
régime and the occasional outbreaks of the last decade or two.
The available data clearly indicate that the warfare of the tribe
complements their pacific industries in every essential respect.
As befits their primitive character, warfare has played an important
role in the history of the folk, forming, indeed, one of the chief
factors in determining the course of tribal development. There is no
means of estimating the losses suffered and occasioned in warfare with
the neighboring tribes during either prehistoric or historic times;
but the indications are that they were much greater than the losses
connected with Caucasian contact. Neither is it practicable to estimate
reliably the fatalities attending the interminable conflicts with the
Spanish invaders and their descendants, though it is safe to say that
the Seri losses in strife against Spaniards and Mexicans aggregate many
hundred, and that the correlative loss on the part of their enemies
reaches several score, if not some hundred, lives. Few if any other
aboriginal tribes of America have had so sanguinary a history as the
Seri, and none other has at once so long and so bloody a record.
According to the consistent accounts of several survivors of conflict
with the Seri, their chief weapons are arrows, stones, and clubs—though
several survivors manifest greater fear of the throttling hands and
rending teeth of the savage warriors than of all their artificial
weapons combined. A striking feature of the recitals, indeed, is
the rarity of reference to weapons; the ambushes or surrounds or
chance meetings, with their disastrous or happy consequences, are
commonly described with considerable detail; the carbines or rifles,
the machetes and knives, or the deftly thrown riatas employed by the
rancheros or vaqueros are mentioned with full appreciation of their
serviceability; but the ordinary expressions concerning the despised
yet dreaded Seri are precisely those employed in recounting conflicts
with carnivorous beasts. When Andrés Noriega’s kinswoman proudly
related how he alone once overawed and routed an attacking party
of 30 Seri warriors, she duly mentioned the carbine ready for use in
his hands and the six-shooter and machete in his belt; but nothing was
said of the Seri weapons. When a distinguished sportsman citizen of
Caborca, the local authority on the Seri, sought to dissuade the 1895
expedition from visiting Tiburon, he was repetitively and cumulatively
emphatic in his oracular forecast, “Ils vont vous tuer! _Ils vont vous
tuer!!_ ILS VONT VOUS TUER!!!”—yet he made but passing reference
to “poisoned” arrows, and none to other weapons, in the general
implication that invaders of the tribal territory were torn limb from
limb and strewn over the rocks and deserts of Seriland. When Jesus
Omada, of Bacuachito, boasted his Seri scars, he indeed emphasized the
arrow-mark on his breast, but only as a prelude and foil to the far
ghastlier record of his teeth-torn arm. When Robinson and his companion
were butchered on Tiburon in 1894, the bloody work was effected chiefly
by means of a borrowed Winchester; and neither the account of the
survivors nor that of the actors made mention of native weapons—save
the stones with which the second victim was finished according to the
local version. In short, most of the casual expressions and fuller
recitals alike indicate that while the Seri are famous fighters their
weapons—except the much-dreaded “poisoned” arrows—are incidents rather
than essentials to savage assaults, and that their prowess rests
primarily on bodily the strength and swiftness.
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The stones used in battle, as described by the survivors and as
intimated by Mashém, are cobbles as large as a fist, i. e., hupfs
of typical form and size. So far as is known they are never hurled,
slung, nor projected in any other manner, nor are they hafted or
attached to cords after widespread aboriginal customs; they are merely
held in the hand, as in the slaughter of quarry. Hardy made note of a
war-club—“They use likewise a sort of wooden mallet called Macána, for
close quarters in war”;[301] but nothing of the kind was found at Costa
Rica in 1894, and no woodwork suggesting such use was found in the
depths of Seriland in 1895.
[301] Travels, p. 290.
The most conspicuous and doubtless the most effective war weapon is
the arrow projected from the bow in the unusual if not unique fashion
already noted (ante, p. 201). There is nothing to indicate that the
Seri are especially effective archers; the facts (1) that a large
part of the arrows are pointless, save for the hard-wood foreshafts;
(2) that stone arrowpoints are not habitually used; and (3) that
comparatively slight reference is made to the use of arrows in records
and recitals of Seri battles, tend on the contrary to indicate
inferior ability in archery. And in the course of the explorations
by the 1895 expedition it was noted that the feral fowls and animals
of Seriland—pelican, gull, snipe, curlew, cormorant, coyote, hare,
bura, mountain sheep, peccary, etc.—displayed little fear of human
figures at distances exceeding 75 yards, and seldom stirred until the
stranger approached within 50 or 60 yards; whence it may be assumed
that these distances fairly indicate the ordinary range of Seri arrows.
The few accounts of conflicts in which arrows are mentioned prove,
however, that those missiles are discharged with great rapidity and in
considerable numbers during the brief interval to which the fighting is
customarily limited.
The most notorious feature of the Seri warfare, and that of deepest
interest to students, is the reputed use of poisoned arrows. The
scattered literature of the tribe, from the days of Coronado onward,
abounds in references to this custom; the Jesuit authorities give
somewhat varied yet fairly consistent descriptions of the preparation
and the effects of these arrows; Hardy added his testimony as to the
character of the poison; General Stone gave directly corroborative
evidence; haciendero Encinas gives witness to the effects of the
envenomed missiles on his own stock; while Mashém recounted to the
1894 expedition the various uses of the “poisoned” arrows and highly
extolled their potency, though he was noncommittal—save in casual
allusions—as to the details of the poisoning. A part of the arrows
acquired by this expedition and now preserved in the National Museum
were professedly poisoned; they are easily distinguished by a thin
varnish of gummy and greasy substance over the iron tips and wooden
foreshafts, and especially about the attachments of mesquite gum and
sinew. According to Mashém’s asseverations, such arrows are habitually
used in war save when the supply is exhausted by continued demand;
they are also used occasionally in hunting, especially for deer and
lions (i. e., the swiftest and fiercest game of the region); and the
use of the poisoned missile does not destroy the meat of the animal,
though the portion immediately about the wound is “thrown away”. Two
of the treated arrows brought back from Costa Rica were submitted to
Dr S. Weir Mitchell some months afterward for examination, and for
identification of any poisonous matter found on them; but no poison was
detected. On the whole, the data concerning the reputed arrow poisoning
are less definite than might be desired; yet they are sufficient to
suggest the nature of the custom with considerable clearness.
In any consideration of Seri customs it is to be realized that the
folk are notably primitive in thought, and hence deeply steeped in
that overweening mysticism which, dominates all lowly folk—that they
still cling to zoomimic motives in their simple handicraft, and are
still wholly within zootheism in their lowly faith. In the light of
this realization the numerous consistent records of the preparation
of the poison are easily interpreted, and are found to be fully in
accord with the prevailing motives of the tribe; and the interpretation
serves to explain the somewhat discrepant accounts of the effects of
the poison, effects ranging from nil to horrible sepsis. According to
the more circumstantial recipes, the first constituent of the poison is
a portion of lung, preferably human—a selection readily explained by
pristine philosophy, in which the breath is life, and the lungs
at once the seat and the symbol of vitality. Naturally the fleshly
symbol is from a dead body; and just as the lung denotes vitality in
life, so (in primitive thought) it denotes an emphasized, as it were
an incarnated, antithesis of vitality in death. Next, as the recipes
continue, this death-symbol is exposed to the most potent agencies
of death—to the bites of maddened rattlesnakes, to the stings of
irritated scorpions, to the venomed trailings of harried centipedes.
Then the deadly creatures are themselves killed, and the fanged heads
of the serpents, the stinging tails of the scorpions, and the fiery
feet of the centipedes, together with portions of redolent ordure from
the grave-cairns, and other symbols of death and decay are crushed
and macerated with the mass in a wizard’s brew, grewsome beyond the
emasculated and degraded witch’s broth of medieval times. Finally,
the grisly mess is allowed to simmer in a stinkpot[302] shell under
the fierce desert sun until its ripeness and putrid potency are
attested by the rank fetor of death; when it is ready for its ruthless
use. Thus the entire recipe is thaumaturgic in concept, necromantic
in detail; it represents merely the malevolent machinations of the
medicine man seeking success by spells and enchantments; it stands for
no rational system of thought or practice, but pertains wholly to the
plane of shamanism and sorcery. So interpreted the recipe is readily
understood; the several witnesses who have independently obtained it
are justified, and Mashém’s details and unwilling intimations are made
clear—especially if the sacrificed flesh about the wound in deer or
lion be deemed an oblation, such as primitive folk are given to making.
[302] Cinosternum sonorense (?).
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While thus the motive of the medicine-man in compounding his loathsome
mess is wholly necromantic, serious consequences of its use must
occasionally supervene; and though these may be incidental so far
as the philosophy is concerned, they may tend reflexly toward the
perpetuation of the custom. In the course of the preparation of the
charm-poison, and especially in the final ripening process, morbific
germs and ptomaines must be developed; these may retain their virulence
up to the time of use, particularly when a batch of poison is prepared
for a special occasion and the arrows are used while the application
is still fresh; and in such cases the wound might initiate septicemia
of the sort described in Castañeda’s early narrative and still more
clearly displayed by Señor Encinas’ saddle-horse (ante, p. 112).
Naturally the incidentally zymotic varnish frequently fails of effect,
and can hardly be expected to remain morbific long enough to be
detected in laboratory experiments; yet it is probable, as attested by
Mashém’s guarded expressions, that the occasionally terrible results of
such poisoning are within the ken of the Seri shamans.
It is noteworthy that the various early accounts of the Seri
arrow-poisoning are strikingly consistent, though sufficiently diverse
to attest independence in origin; it is also noteworthy that several
of the accounts are given hesitatingly and half qualifiedly, with
alternative references (obviously hypothetical) to vegetal sources of
poison. Thus the author of “Rudo Ensayo” qualified a characteristic
(though brief) account of the preparation of the poison by adding:
“But this is mere guesswork, and no doubt the main ingredient is
some root.”[303] So, too, Hardy described the compounding of the
brew in much detail, adding the significant statement that “when the
whole mass is in a high state of corruption the old women take the
arrows and pass their points through it”; yet he could not resist the
alternative hypothesis, and added: “Others again say that the poison is
obtained from the juice of the yerba de la flécha (arrow-wort).”[304]
Bartlett “was told that the Ceris tip their arrows with poison; but
how it was effected I [he] could not learn,” and so he contented
himself with quoting Hardy’s account.[305] Stone gave the recipe in
fairly similar terms, adding that the morbific mass is hung up “to
putrefy in a bag, and in the drippings of this bag they soak their
arrowheads”; and he gave a characteristic account of the effect of a
wound from a poisoned arrow on a human subject (ante, p. 100). Pajeken
independently attested the virulence of the poison, and described the
consequences of a slight wound suffered by his horse (ante, p. 101),
while Pimentel gave independent corroboration, and Orozco y Berra
added the further information that the proverbially deadly poison
is fortified “by superstitious practices” (ante, p. 103). Bancroft
gave currency to the customary recipe, and also to the complementary
hypothesis that the “magot” may be the source of the poison; while
Dewey merely mentioned the reputed use of poisoned arrows. Like their
predecessors, the vaqueros of today are familiar with the tradition
of a necromantic brew; but many of them—like Don Jesus Omada, of
Bacuachito, and Don Ramon Noriega, of Pozo Noriega—display a much
more lively interest in the local yerba mala, or yerba de flécha, of
which they stand in such mortal dread that they can hardly be induced
to approach a clump of it, and which they conceive must add the final
crux to the brew. This plant was described in “Rudo Ensayo”: “Mago,
in the Opata language, is a small tree, very green, luxuriant, and
beautiful to the eye; but it contains a deadly juice which flows upon
making a slight incision in the bark. The natives rub their arrows
with it, and for this reason they call it arrow-grass; but at present
they use very little.”[306] Elsewhere the anonymous author mentions
the use of (presumably) this poison by the Jova, and describes it as
“so deadly that it kills not only the wounded person, but also him
who undertakes the cure by sucking the wound, as is customary with
all the Indians”; the description implying that the infection is
irremediable.[307] Yet he apparently discriminated this poison from
that of the Seri, for which another plant known as caramatraca is an
infallible remedy. On the whole it seems probable that the yerba mala
(_Sebastiano bilocularis?_), or yerba de flécha, or mago, or magot,
yielded or formed the standard arrow-poison of the Opata and perhaps of
other Indians, and that the ill-repute of the shrub survived and spread
throughout Mexicanized Sonora in such frequent repetition and common
belief as to affect the ideas of residents and travelers alike; but
it seems equally probable that the magic-inspired brew of the Seri is
entirely distinct.[308]
[303] Op. cit., p. 198; cf. ante, p. 78.
[304] Travels, p. 299; cf. ante, p. 87.
[305] Personal Narrative, p. 465.
[306] Op. cit., p. 161.
[307] Op. cit., pp. 187, 188.
[308] It should be noted that the actuality of the poisonous property
ascribed to the yerba mala is in some degree questionable; the plant
is the only one of southern Papagueria yielding suitable material
for arrow-shafts, and it is possible (if not probable) that it was
consecrated to this purpose by the aboriginal Opata and protected by
tabu in such wise as to become a sacred and fearsome thing. It is
accordingly by no means improbable that the reputed poisonous property
is but the product of generations of association, and that the plant is
really harmless—an inference supported by experiments on the part of
the leader of the 1895 expedition, who swallowed the juice of stem and
leaves in two or three minute but increasing doses without perceptible
effect. On the other hand, it should be observed that the region is one
abounding in toxic juices, and that this shrub is so luxuriant and so
free from thorny armament and other protective devices of a mechanical
sort as to raise the presumption that it must be protected against
herbivorous animals, at least, by chemical constituents of some kind
(cf. ante, p. 35).
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* * * * *
As suggested by widespread primitive customs, and as illustrated
specifically by the arrow-charming, the warfare of the Seri is largely
sortilegic, this feature being but an extension and magnification of a
corresponding feature of their hunting customs. The economic object of
the chase is, of course, the flesh of the quarry; but the hunt normally
begins with invocatory or other fiducial ceremonies, culminates in a
feast opened with oblations, and ends in the use of horns or hoofs,
teeth or bones, mane or tail, as talisman-trophies—primarily pledges of
fealty to the favorable potencies, only secondarily symbols of success.
The observances illumine the ever-present esoteric object of the chase,
which is to gain the favor or overcome the power of the beast-god
represented by the animal hunted; in general, this is sought to be
effected through mimetic movements, or symbolic objects, associated
with that animal-kind, and the retained charm-trophy is valued as
a symbol of the placation or outwitting of a particular deity.
Similarly, the Seri warrior strives for the supposed deific symbols
of the enemy—the scalp or headdress or arrow of the alien tribesman,
the fire-breathing and echo-waking (as well as death-dealing) wand of
the Caucasian; and the Papago arrows, Yaqui scalps, and white man’s
firearms are sought avidly, treasured as fetishes, and often carried
conspicuously as badges of borrowed prowess.[309] So the Seri are never
without alien insignia in the form of weapons. The day before the 1895
expedition entered their stronghold, a band of warriors and women
were frightened from a freshly slaughtered cow by a party of vaqueros
so suddenly that their arms were left behind—and these included a
heavy Springfield “remodeled” rifle, lacking not only ammunition but
breechblock and firing pin; while Don Andrés Noriega, of Costa Rica,
and L. K. Thompson, of Hermosillo, described a rifle of modern make
captured similarly two years before, which was in good working order
and charged with a counterfeit cartridge ingeniously fashioned from
raw buckskin in imitation of a center-fire brass shell and loaded with
a polished stone bullet.[310] The finders opined that the rifles were
carried to bluff the enemy, and even that the counterfeit cartridge
was designed to do deadly execution; but it would better accord with
Seri customs, and with the law of piratical acculturation which they
typify,[311] to infer that the weapons were regarded rather as symbols
of mystical potencies than as simple scarecrows. Of related import
were two or three pseudomachetes made from rust-pitted cask hoops,
reported by the majordomo and several vaqueros at Costa Rica; and of
still greater significance was a machete picked up in a just-abandoned
jacal by Don Ygnacio Lozania—veteran of the Andrade expedition and
the Encinas conquest—which was laboriously rasped and scraped out of
paloblanco wood, colored in imitation of iron blade and mahogany handle
by means of face-paints, and even furnished with “eyes” replacing the
handle-rivets, in the form of embedded iron scales. Some of the Seri
are familiar with the normal use of firearms, as was demonstrated by
the Robinson and other episodes, and many of them modernly make some
use of machetes or other knives, as shown by various rudely whittled
wooden artifacts; yet the burden of proof indicates that the chief use
of the Caucasian’s weapons in the heat of actual warfare is shamanistic
and symbolic. This interpretation is, in fact, practically established
by the experience of the frontier; for the vaqueros and local soldiery
have little fear of the ill-understood firearms and clumsily handled
machetes occasionally seen in Seri hands, though they dread unspeakably
the necromantic arrows and flesh-rending teeth with which the agile
foes are credited.
[309] These motives on the part of the Seri were reciprocated by their
tribal enemies; a Papago fetish in the form of an Apache arrowpoint,
long worn by an aged warrior as a protection from Apache arrows, was
among the spoil of the 1894 expedition; and a “poisoned” Seri arrowhead
and foreshaft, worn by a superannuated Papago “doctor” as a badge of
invulnerability to similar missiles, was cautiously shown to the 1895
expedition, but was held above price by its wearer—and this despite the
fact that he had been christianized for decades, and retained no other
pagan symbols.
[310] The imitative still of the Seri was illustrated at Costa Rica
some years ago, when the petty accounts for labor, etc., were kept
by means of tokens stamped from sheet brass. While a Seri rancheria
was maintained near the rancho, the storekeeper detected a number of
counterfeits of his tokens, so well executed as to pass readily over
the counter in ordinary exchange—and after extended detective work the
counterfeiting was traced to the rancheria.
[311] American Anthropologist, vol. XI. August, 1898, pp. 243-249.
The mystical potency ascribed to Caucasian firearms and cutlery by
the zoomimic tribesmen is of interest as a reflection of motives
and methods pervading the entire range of their activities; at the
same time it suggests the genesis of the aberrant technolithic craft
displayed in arrow-chipping. The information obtained from Mashém and
his mates concerning chipped arrowpoints implied that the process was
hieratic and little understood by the body of the tribe, its place in
the tribal knowledge, indeed, being similar to that of the brewing of
the arrow “poison”, which is the special work of shamans; and this
information, comporting as it does with the rarity of the chipped
points and the crudeness of the work, strongly supports the inference
that the stone arrow-making of the Seri was originally a fetishistic
mimicry of alien devices—a plane, indeed, above which the craft has
hardly risen even in recent decades.
* * * * *
While the Seri are devoid of military tactics in the strict sense
of the term, they have certain customs of warfare which seem to be
scrupulously observed. These customs are closely akin to those followed
in hunting the larger land animals—indeed, the warfare of the tribe is
merely an intensified counterpart of their chase.
The favorite tactical device of the warriors, as indicated by the great
majority of their battles, is the ambuscade, laid and sprung either
with or without the aid of decoys (usually aged women). Sometimes
a considerable body act in concert under a prearranged plan; more
commonly a few warriors only are involved at the outset, though these
may be joined as the crisis approaches by companions lurking behind
rocks and shrubs to be either on hand at the finish or in the way of
ready flight, according to the turn of the battle-tide; and it is
probable that the greater part of the ambuscades prove stillborn by
reason of the oozing courage of leaders and the shirking of their
supporters if the prospective victims present a bold front, or if the
final omens are otherwise adverse. The ambuscade, with its flying
contingent, grades into the device of stalking a stationary or slowly
moving enemy, the stealthy approach terminating either in covert attack
at close range or in sudden rush by a superior force. The theory, or
rather the instinctive plan, of the campaign is to seek advantage in
both position and numbers, to keep under cover until the instant of
attack, to have sure and ample lines of retreat, and in every way to
minimize individual risk.
There is a widespread notion toward the Seri frontier that the savages
are given to sorties and surprises by night; but both specific
testimony and the records indicate, when carefully analyzed, that
this tactical device is much less common in practice than in repute,
and is not, indeed, characteristic of the tribe. A few known battles
began in attacks by night; but the war parties, like the hunting and
fishing parties (save in the semiceremonial pelican pilgrimages),
display decided preference for daylight in their forays—indeed, there
are various indications that the folk are much more timid and oppressed
with superstitious fears by night than by day.
In rare cases small parties of aliens have been half openly surrounded
and done to death by considerably larger parties of the savage folk;
but this method, too, is incongruous with the fixed habits of the tribe
and with the deep-planted instinct of avoiding personal exposure.
A considerable number of the long list of homicides charged against
the Seri, and marking the beginning of many of their battles, were
individual rather than collective, the consummation of inimical impulse
sometimes treacherously concealed for favorable opportunity, as in the
pitiful case of Fray Crisóstomo Gil, and othertimes rising explosively
beyond the feeble control of the untrained mind; for the impulse of
enmity toward aliens is an ever-present possession—or obsession—of
the tribe, and a reflection of that race-sense which is their most
distinctive attribute.
Of open warfare and face-to-face fighting there is hardly a germ among
the Seri. When themselves ambushed or surrounded, some of their stouter
warriors have in a few instances faced the foe for a few minutes at a
time, as is shown by the annals of Cerro Prieto; yet this accidental
attitude but betokens the play of chance rather than the plan of
choice. Concordantly, the folk avoid the method of warfare (so common
among other Amerind tribes as to be properly considered characteristic)
involving open duel between chiefs and other warriors; they seem to be
devoid of that sense of fairness in fighting which finds expression in
the duel; and despite the individual advantages growing out of gigantic
stature, immense strength, and superior swiftness, they habitually
seek to combine in numbers against panicked or baffled enemies, just
as their hunters throw themselves mercilessly on surrounded quarry. Of
open boldness or confident prowess no trace appears; and the body of
facts seems to justify the prevailing Sonoran opinion that the warfare
of the Seri is treacherous and cowardly in design, craven and cruel in
execution.
Once begun, the conduct of the fray by the Seri fighters is fairly
uniform; the warriors either discharge clouds of arrows from their
coigns of vantage, or rush to brain their victims with stones, or
to break their necks and limbs and crush in their chests, as in the
slaughtering of quarry; and according to the tale of the occasional
survivors—Señor Pascual Encinas and his son Manuel, Don Ygnacio
Lozania, Don Andrés Noriega, Don Jesus Omada of Bacuachito, and Don
Ramon Noriega of Pozo Noriega, are among the survivors and informants;
also the sturdy Papago fighters, Mariana, Anton, Miguel, and Anton
Castillo (whose sister died of dread while he was on the 1895
expedition)—the rushing warriors are transfigured with frenzy; their
eyes blaze purple and green, their teeth glisten through snarling
lips, their hair half rises in bristling mane, while their huge
chests swell and their lithe limbs quiver in a fury sudden and blind
and overpowering as that of springing puma or charging peccary. Of
the successful assaults the ghastly end is rarely recorded, though
whispered large in the lore of Sonora; in the unsuccessful assaults
recounted by survivors the blood-frenzy burned but briefly and died
swiftly as the disappointed warriors skulked silently behind rocks and
shrubs, or fled across the sands with inconceivable fleetness. These
details of battle precisely parallel the details of butchery of beastly
quarry, as recounted by local observers and corroborated by Mashém’s
recitals.
So far as can be ascertained the parallelism between frenzied battling
and furious butchery in the chase affords the chief basis for the firm
Sonoran belief that the similarity extends one step farther, and that
the human victims are rent and consumed, like the beasts. There is a
lamentable lack of data concerning the alleged anthropophagy of the
Seri; on the one hand there is the deep-seated local opinion, generally
growing stronger as the tribal territory is approached, and agreeing
so well with the hunting customs, the thaumaturgic arrow-poisoning,
the zoomimic handicraft, and zootheistic faith, and especially with
the pervading fetish-piracy of the folk, that its validity would seem
inherently probable; on the other hand, there is not only a dearth of
specific positive testimony, but haciendero Encinas (best informed
among Caucasians concerning Seri customs) and several of his yeomen
reject the prevailing belief, while Mashém consistently repudiated the
custom, both in general and in particular, and in ceremonial as well
as in economic aspects, whenever and in whatever way the subject was
approached during his intercourse with the 1894 expedition. On the
whole, the much-mooted question of Seri cannibalism must be left open
pending further inquiry, with some preponderance of evidence against
the existence of the custom.
The war-frenzy of the Seri fighters is significant in its parallelism
with the blood-craze of the chase, and even more so in its analogy
with the warpath customs and ceremonies of most Amerind tribes and
many other primitive peoples. In typical tribes the warpath custom is
a most distinctive one, standing for an abnormal state of mind and
an unaccustomed habit of body, perhaps to the extent of an extreme
exaltation or obsession akin to intoxication, in which the ordinary
ideas of justice and humanity are inhibited; among most tribes the
condition is sought voluntarily and deliberately when occasion is
thought to demand, and is superinduced by fasts and vigils, exciting
songs and ceremonies, and related means; while among certain tribes
the aid of symbolic “medicines”, which may be actual intoxicants, is
invoked. Thus the savage on the warpath is a different being from the
same man in times of peace; viewed from his own standpoint, he is
possessed of an alien and violent demon, usually that of a fantastic
and furious beast-god whose rage he must symbolize and enact; viewed
from the standpoint of higher culture, he is a raving and ruthless
maniac whose craze is none the less complete by reason of its voluntary
origin. The warpath frenzy is one of the fundamental, even if little
understood, facts of primitive life, and the character of the savage
tribe can not properly be weighed without appreciation of it. Now, the
Seri blood-craze seems measurably distinct in two ways: in the first
place, it expresses a more profound and bitter enmity toward aliens
than is found among most savage tribes—i. e., it is instinctive and
persistent in exceptional degree; in the second place, it is more
spontaneous and explosive in its culmination when conditions favor than
among tribesmen who induce the condition by elaborate preparation—i.
e., it is dependent on the swift-changing hazard of warfare in
exceptional measure; so that the Seri frenzy is at once more
instinctive and more fortuitous, or in general terms more inchoate,
than the corresponding condition among most of their contemporaries.
Accordingly the war customs, like several other features of the
tribe, seem to afford a connecting link between the habits normal to
carnivorous beasts and the well-organized war customs of somewhat
higher culture-grades; and thus they contribute toward outlining the
course of human development through some of its darker stages.
* * * * *
Conformably with their poverty in offensive devices, the Seri are
exceedingly poor in devices for defense. It is an impressive fact that
a restricted motherland which has been successfully protected against
invasion for nearly four centuries of history should be destitute of
earthworks, fortifications, barricades, palisades, or other protective
structures; yet no such structures exist on any of the natural lines
of approach, and none are known anywhere in Seriland save in a single
spot—Tinaja Trinchera—where there are a few walls of loose-laid
stone, so unlike anything else in Seriland and so like the structures
characteristic of Papagueria as to strongly indicate (if not to
demonstrate) invasion and temporary occupancy by aliens. The jacales
are not fortified in the slightest degree, unless the turtle-shells
with which they are sometimes shingled be regarded as armor; even the
most ancient rancherias are absolutely devoid of contravallations of
earth, stone, or other material; and both the structures themselves and
the expressions of the folk concerning them indicate that the jacales
are not regarded as fortresses or places of refuge against enemies, but
only as comfortable lodges for use in times of peace. Nor are walls
like those of the borderland Tinaja Trinchera known in the interior of
the tribal territory—e. g., the similarly conditioned Tinaja Anita,
which differs only in the greater abundance and permanence of the
water-supply, is entirely devoid of artificial structures, not even
a pebble or bowlder being artificially placed save perchance by the
casual trampling of the pathways. As already noted, the Seri seem to
be practically devoid of knife-sense; they are still more completely
devoid of fort-sense, although (and evidently because) they rely so
fully on natural things, including tutelaries and their own fleetness,
for safety.
Although devoid of even the germ of fortification-sense, so far as
can be discovered, the Seri are not without a sort of shield-sense,
which is of much significance partly by reason of its inchoate
character. The ordinary shield is a pelican pelt, or a robe or kilt
comprising several skins; it is employed either for confusing the
enemy by swift brandishing, something after the fashion of the capa
of the banderillero in the bull ring, or for actual protection of the
body against arrows and other missiles or weapons. So far as known
it is not backed or otherwise strengthened, the user relying solely
on the stout integument and thick feathers—or rather on the mystical
properties imputed to the pelt as the mystery-tinged investiture of
their chief creative tutelary. On the coast bucklers are improvised
from turtle-shells, though, according to Mashém (confirmed by direct
observation), these are not carried inland for the purpose; but the
protective function imputed to the turtle was well represented in the
rancheria at Costa Rica by several fetishes made from phalanges of
turtle-flippers tricked out in rags in imitation of Caucasian dress
(somewhat like the mortuary fetishes illustrated in figure 40_a_ and
_b_). On the whole, the most conspicuous feature of the individual
shields or protectors is their emblematic character; they are
sortilegic rather than practical, and express imputation of mystical
potencies rather than recognition of actual properties; and in this as
in other respects they correspond closely with the offensive devices,
and aid in defining the ideas and motives of the primitive warriors.
The actually effective protection of the Seri in warfare is their
fleetness, coupled with their habitual and constitutional timidity,
i. e., their wildness—for they are verily, as their Mexican neighbors
say, “gente muy bronco”. Moreover, they are adepts in concealing their
persons and their movements behind shrubbery and rocks, and in finding
cover on the barest plains; and suggestions are not wanting that the
protecting shrub-clumps and rocks of their wonted ranges are credited
with occult powers and elevated to the lower places of their zoic
pantheon, after the customary way of that overpowering zootheism, or
animism, which the Seri so well exemplify in many of their habits.
* * * * *
Summarily, the warfare of the Seri complements the pacific industries
of the tribe in every essential respect. It is notable for
improvidence, i. e., for reliance on chance; the dearth of devices for
offense and defense parallels the poverty in industrial artifacts;
and the disregard of fortifications is of a kind with the squandering
of present food supplies and the utter neglect of provision for the
future. A striking correspondence between workfare and warfare is
found in the fierce blood-lust displayed alike in chase and battle, a
feature manifestly borrowed from beasts and intensified by besetting
beast-faith; and more striking still is the correspondence in motive,
as revealed by the overlapping functions of the protective kilt, by
the borrowing of animal symbols alike in peace and war, and by the
imitation of animal movements on the warpath as in the chase.
In the last synthesis the warfare of the Seri may be considered as
characterized by two attributes: (1) The motives, so far as developed,
are zoomimic in even greater degree than the prevailing motives of
the pacific industries; and (2) the methods are shaped largely by
mechanical chance, like those normal to protolithic industry.
NASCENT INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
Industries form the chief bond between man and his environment. The
esthetic activities arise in the individual and extend to his fellows;
the institutional activities express the relations among individual
men and groups; the linguistic activities serve to extend social
relations in space and time, and the sophic activities to integrate and
perpetuate all relations; but it is through the industrial activities
that human intelligence interacts with physical nature and makes
conquest of the material world. Accordingly, industries act as a
steady and never-ceasing stimulus to intelligence; accordingly, too,
the industrial activities afford the simplest and surest measure of
intellectual advancement.
Under this view of the place of industrial activities in human
phylogeny, certain phases of Seri technology acquire importance and
especial significance.
1. One of the most conspicuous features of Seri craft is its
local character. The foodstuffs, the materials for appareling and
habitations, and the substances utilized in the several lines of
simple handicraft are essentially local; moreover, the characteristic
methods and devices evidently reflect local environmental conditions.
There are, indeed, a few phenomena suggesting, and a still less
number demonstrating, extraneous origin; the balsa and the kilt are
sufficiently similar to devices of other districts to suggest, though
not to prove, genetic identity (indeed, the sum of indications of local
origin is much weightier than the several suggestions of extraneous
derivation); the iron harpoon-points and arrow-tips are mainly of local
flotsam, and are essentially provincial in modes of employment; the
chipped stone arrow-tips, though local in material, are foreign in
motive; but on summarizing the industrial phenomena, it would appear
that by far the greater share are essentially local, while the few of
exceptional (and extraneous) character can be pretty definitely traced
to importation through the social interactions of recent centuries.
2. An equally conspicuous feature of the industrial craft of the
Seri is the dominance of chance in both processes and devices. The
traditional “fisherman’s luck” is made exceptionally uncertain by
the sudden gales and shifting currents of Seriland shores, while the
absolute necessaries of life on land are still more capricious than
those alongshore; this uncertainty of resources has profoundly affected
the somatic features of the tribesman, as indicated elsewhere (ante,
p. 159); and that the mental attributes of the folk are even more
profoundly affected is attested by the role played by chance in the
selection and shapement of the prevailing tools of stone and shell.
The large role of chance in Seri life is also revealed, though less
directly, in the overweening mysticism of zootheistic faith, with its
material reflection in zoomimic craft.
3. When the local and fortuitous features of the Seri industries are
juxtaposed they are found to express a notably inchoate or primitive
stage of industrial development. In both the local and the fortuitous
or accidental aspects, the activities are so closely adjusted to the
immediate environment as to approach the instinctive agencies and
movements of bestial life, and correspondingly to diverge from the
composite and cosmopolite characters of higher humanity; the dearth of
extraneous devices denotes absence or intolerance of that accultural
interchange accompanying and marking the progress of peoples; and the
dearth of inventions denotes feebleness of creative faculty and absence
of that self-confidence which accompanies and measures progress in
nature-conquest.
4. When the local and fortuitous features of the Seri craft are viewed
in their serial or sequential relations, they are found to reflect
and attest autochthonal development. Excepting the few accultural
processes and devices whose acquisition may confidently be traced to
certain social interactions of the historic period, the Seri technic
is too closely tied to local environment to warrant any supposition of
importation from other districts. The question of the birthplace of
the people may be left open in this case as in every other; but the
birthplace of practically all those activities and activital products
which define the folk as human was manifestly Seriland itself—so that
the tribe, considered as a human folk rather than as a zoic variety,
must be classed as autochthonous.
Summarily, then, the Seri industries are significant as (1) local, (2)
fortuitous, (3) primitive, and (4) autochthonous; and these features
combine to illumine a noteworthy stage in primitive thought.
5. On juxtaposing these significant features of Seri technic, they are
found to reflect the tribal mind with noteworthy fidelity, and hence to
indicate the sources of Seri mentations, and of the local culture in
which these mentations are integrated. The local foodstuffs—especially
that vital standard of values in arid regions, water—are periodic
sources of the strongest aspirations and inspirations of industrial
life, and the methods and devices for food-getting are but the
legitimate offspring of the inevitable relation between effort and
environment; the conspicuous role of chance is but the composite
of the hard and capricious environment on the one hand, and of the
lowly thought reflecting that environment on the other hand; the zoic
faith into which the magma of recurrent chance has semicrystallized
finds carnate symbols either in local beasts or in fantastic monsters
suggested by those beasts; even the mating instinct, second only
to thirst among the impelling action-factors of the folk, is so
profoundly and bitterly provincial as to exclude foreign ideals to
a degree unparalleled among known peoples. The industrial materials
are local—but not more local than the thoughts in which they are
reflected; the technical methods are unmistakably the offspring of the
environment—but they are equally the offspring of minds reflecting
that environment and no other; the few and simple devices stand for
integrations of experiences, instinctive rather than ratiocinative, the
germ of invention rather than even its opening bud—but the experiences
bear the marks of that environment and no other. Accordingly, the
mental side of Seri industry, and, indeed, of all Seri life, appears
to be the counterpart of the physical side. The Seri mind is (1)
local, (2) chance-dominated, (3) exceeding lowly, and especially (4)
autochthonal in its content and workings.
* * * * *
There is an aspect of the inference as to the local and autochthonal
character of the Seri mind which is of wide-reaching application. As
indicated by many tribes, though most clearly by the Seri, there is
a definite relation between the somatic characteristics of primitive
folk and their environment; the indications are that the relation
is inversely proportionate to development, the lowliest tribes
reflecting environment most closely, and the higher peoples responding
less delicately to the environmental pressure in the ratio of their
increased power of nature-conquest; and the relation is essentially
phylogenetic, in that it sums and integrates the innumerable
interactions between organic kind and environment during generations or
ages. It is to be realized that the relation is not simple and direct
or physiologic merely (e. g., like that between climate and the pelage
of an animal), but that it is linked through the human activities;
for, as is conspicuously the case in Seriland, the environment prompts
exercises of particular kinds, and it is these exercises that shape
the somatic features, such as strength of lung, length of limb, and
the soundness of constitution displayed in physical endurance; yet
the relation is none the less real, in that it operates through the
activities rather than directly. The relation may be characterized
with respect to mechanism as bodily responsion, or with respect to
capacity as _responsivity of body_. Now, as is well illustrated by the
provincial ideation of the Seri, the relation between environment and
physique is accompanied by a corresponding relation between environment
and thought. This relation, too, varies inversely with development,
the connection being closest among the most primitive tribes, and
growing less and less close with maturing mentality and proportionately
increasing power of nature-contest; and the relation is still less
direct (or physiologic merely) than that between the human body and its
environment, in that not only the bodily activities but the instinctive
and nascently ratiocinative processes are interposed. This relation
between mind and environment may be characterized as mental responsion
in its mechanical aspect, or as _responsivity_ of mind when regarded as
a psychic property.[312] Accordingly, the relation between the tribal
mind and its environment, as illumined by the peculiarly delicate
interactions observed among the Seri, seem to indicate the genesis and
earlier developmental stages of mentality in its multifarious aspects.
[312] The responsivity of mind has been defined elsewhere as the basis
of knowledge, and as one of five fundamental principles of science (The
Cardinal Principles of Science, Proceedings of the Washington Academy
of Sciences, vol. II, 1900, pp. 1-12).
The specially significant feature of the relation between environment
on the one hand and body + mind on the other is its diminishing value
with general intellectual advancement. Viewed serially, the relation
may be considered to begin in the animal realm with organisms adapted
to environment through physiologic processes, and to end in that
realm of enlightened humanity in which mind molds environment through
complete nature-conquest. In the serial scale so defined the various
primitive tribes and more advanced peoples may be arranged in the
order of mental power or culture-status; when the same arrangement
will express in inverse order the relative closeness with which the
several tribal minds reflect their environments. It follows that the
lowly minds and craft of the Seri reflect their distinctive environment
with exceeding, perhaps unparalleled, closeness, because of their
very lowliness; it follows, too, that any other equally lowly folk
imported into the region and perfectly wonted to it by generations of
experience would equally reflect the physical features of the region
in their craft and in their thinking; it follows, also, that if the
Seri were transported into any other district of equally distinctive
physical features, they would gradually adapt themselves to the new
environment—though with some added intelligence, and hence with
diminished closeness, as is the way of demotic development—in such
manner that their craft and thinking would reflect its features. In
a more general way it follows that those similarities in culture, or
activital coincidences, which have impressed the ethnologic students
of the world (notably Powell and Brinton), are normal and inevitable
in primitive culture and of diminishing prominence with cultural
advancement.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Among the Seri, as among many other aboriginal tribes, the social
relations are largely esoteric; moreover, in this, as in other
savage groups, the social laws are not codified, nor even definitely
formulated, but exist mainly as mere habits of action arising in
instinct and sanctioned by usage; so that the tribesmen could not
define the law even if they would. Accordingly the Seri socialry[313]
is to be ascertained only by patient observation of conduct under
varying circumstances. Unfortunately, the opportunities for such
observation have been too meager to warrant extended description, or
anything more, indeed, than brief notice of salient points.
[313] A convenient term proposed by Patton.
CLANS AND TOTEMS
The most noticeable social fact revealed about the Seri rancherias
is the prominence of the females, especially the elderwomen, in the
management of everyday affairs. The matrons erect the jacales without
help from men or boys; they carry the meager belongings of the family
and dispose them about the habitation in conformity with general custom
and immediate convenience; and after the household is prepared, the men
approach and range themselves about, apparently in a definite order,
the matron’s eldest brother coming first, the younger brothers next,
and finally the husband, who squats in, or outside of, the open end
of the bower. According to Mashém’s iterated explanations, which were
corroborated by several elderwomen (notably the clanmother known to
the Mexicans as Juana Maria) and verified by observation of the family
movements, the house and its contents belong exclusively to the matron,
though her brothers are entitled to places within it whenever they
wish; while the husband has neither title nor fixed place, “because
he belongs to another house”—though, as a matter of fact, he is
frequently at or in the hut of his spouse, where he normally occupies
the outermost place in the group and acts as a sort of outer guard or
sentinel. Conformably to their proprietary position, the matrons have
chief, if not sole, voice in extending and removing the rancheria; and
such questions as that of the placement of a new jacal are discussed
animatedly among them and finally decided by the dictum of the eldest
in the group. The importance of the function thus exercised by the
women has long been noted at Costa Rica and other points on the Seri
frontier, for the rancherias are located and the initial jacal erected
commonly by a solitary matron, sometimes by two or three aged dames;
around this nucleus other matrons and their children gather in the
course of a day or two; while it is usually three or four days, and
sometimes a week, before the brothers and husbands skulk singly or in
small bands into the new rancheria.
Quite similar is the regimentation of the family groups as indicated
by the correlative privileges and duties as to placement, as well as
the reciprocal rights of command and the requirements of obedience.
Ordinarily (especially when the men are not about) the elderwoman
of the jacal exercises unlimited privileges as to placement of both
persons and property, locating the ahst, the bedding, the fire (if
any), and other possessions at will, and assigning positions to the
members of her family, the nubile girls receiving especial attention;
she is also the arbiter of disputes, the distributor of food, etc.;
but in case of tumult, especially when children from other jacales
are present, she may invoke the authority of the clanmother, whose
powers in the rancheria are analogous to those of the younger matrons
in their own jacales. Even when the men are present they take little
part in the regulation of personal conduct, but tacitly accept the
decision of matron or clanmother; yet in emergencies any of the women
are ready to appeal for aid in the execution of their will to a brother
(preferably the elder brother) of the family, or, if need be great,
to the brothers of the clanmother. So far as was observed, and so far
as could be ascertained through informants, these appeals are always
for executive and never for legislative or judicative cooperation; but
various general facts indicate that in times of stress—in the heat of
the chase, in the warpath-craze, etc.—the men bestir themselves into the
initiative, while the women drop into an inferior legislative place. As
an illustration of the ordination in somewhat unusual circumstances,
it may be noted that when the “Seri belle” (Candelaria) refused to pose
for a photograph she was supported by the clanmother (Juana Maria)
until the latter was placated by presents; and that when the belle
refused to obey the mother’s command—to the vociferous scandal of the
entire group—Juana Maria appealed to Señor Encinas, as the conqueror of
the tribe and hence as the virtual head of both rancho and rancheria.
And when a younger Seri maiden (plate XXV) similarly refused to pose,
and in like manner disobeyed her mother (again to the general disgust),
the latter appealed to Mashém; when he, after first exacting additional
presents for both girl and mother and a double amount for himself,
put hands on the recalcitrant demoiselle and forced her into the pose
required, despite the shrinking and tremulous terror perceptible even
in the picture.
Commonly the regimentation of family, clan, and larger group appears
to be indicated approximately by the placement assumed spontaneously
in the idle lounging of peace and plenty. A typical placement of
a small group is illustrated in plate XIV. Here the family are
assembled outside the jacal, but in the relative positions which
would be assumed within. The matron (a Red Pelican woman) squats in
easy reach of her few and squalid possessions; on her left, i. e., in
the group-background and place of honor, sits the elderwoman of the
rancheria (a Turtle); then comes the daughter of the family, followed
by two girl-child guests of the group, the three occupying positions
pertaining to chiefs or elder brothers or, in their absence, to
daughters; opposite the matron sits a younger brother,[314] whose wife
is a Turtle woman (daughter of the dame in the place of honor) and
matron of another jacal. A few feet behind this brother (just outside
the limits of the photograph reproduced, though shown on the duplicate
negative) squats the husband, with his side to the group and face
toward the direction of natural approach; while the place belonging to
the sons of the family on the matron’s right is temporarily occupied by
a White Pelican girl, together with a dog, notable in the local pack
for largely imported blood and correspondingly docile disposition.
The place for the babe, were there one in the family, would be on the
heap of odds and ends behind the matron. As in this group so in most
others, the place of the sons is vacant; for the boys are at once the
most restless and the most lawless members of the tribe—indeed, the
striplings seem often to ignore the maternal injunctions and even to
evade the rarely uttered avuncular orders, so that their movements are
practically free, except in so far as they are themselves regimented or
graded by strength and fleetness and success in hunting.
[314] This man was one of those involved in the Robinson butchery on
Tiburon island a few months before the picture was taken; and he was
one of those executed or transported for the affair during the interval
between the 1894 and 1895 expeditions.
The raison d’être of the proprietorship and regimentation reflected
in the everyday customs is satisfactorily indicated by that totemic
feature of the social organization revealed in the face-painting
described in earlier paragraphs (pp. 164*-169*); these symbols
evidently represent an exclusively maternal organization into clans
consecrated to zoic tutelaries. The tutelaries, or totems, together
with the clan names and all personal designations connected with the
totems, are highly esoteric, and were not ascertained save in the few
cases mentioned above.[315]
[315] The chief object of the 1895 expedition was to pursue the
inquiries concerning social organization, totems, etc.; but, as
mentioned elsewhere, this object was defeated by the troublous history
of the tribe during the earlier part of 1895, and the consequent
revival and intensification of their animosity toward aliens.
It should be observed that, the identification of kindred by the alien
observer is difficult and somewhat uncertain, since the relationships
recognized in Seri socialry are not equivalent to those customary among
Caucasians. It was found especially difficult to identify the husband
of the jacal, partly because he is commonly incongruously younger (and
hence relatively smaller) than the mistress, and partly because of the
undignified position of outer guard into which he is forced by the
tribal etiquette. Moreover, his connection with the house is veiled
by the absence of authority over both children and domestic affairs,
though he exercises such authority freely (within the customary limits)
in the jacales of his female relatives. There is, indeed, some question
as to the clear recognition of paternity; certainly the females have
no term for “my father”, i. e., the term is the same as that for “my
mother”, _em_, though the males distinguish the maternal ancestor by a
suffixed syllable (_e_=“my father”; _e-ta_ or _iᵗ-tah_=“my mother”),
which seems to be a magnificative or an intensificative element. It is
noteworthy that the kinship terminology is strikingly meager; also that
while the records suggest various significant points, the material is
hardly rich enough to warrant complete synthesis of the consanguineal
system.
While the burden of the more permanent property pertains to the women,
there is a decided differentiation of labor with a concomitant vesting
of certain property in the warriors—the distinctively masculine
chattels comprising arrows, quivers, bows, turtle-harpoons, etc.
There are indications that the balsas, too, are regarded as masculine
property. The impermanent possessions—water, food, etc.—seem to be the
common property of men, women, and children, except in so far as the
right is regulated by regimentation; for the privileges of eating and
drinking are enjoyed in the order of seniority. In the reckoning of
seniority, the chief (who is commonly such in virtue of his position
as nominal elder brother of a prolific dame) ranks first, and is
followed by other warriors in an order affected in an undetermined way
by conjugal relations as well as by their prowess or sagacity (the
equivalents of age in primitive philosophy) down to an undetermined
point—apparently fixed by puberty; then comes the clanmother, followed
by her daughters in the order of nominal age, which is affected by the
status of spouses and the number of living offspring; finally come
the children, practically in the order of their strength (which also
is deemed an equivalent of age), though the girls—especially those
approaching nubility—receive some advantage through the connivance of
the matrons. To a considerable extent in the matter of sustentation,
and to a dominant degree in the matter of appareling, the distribution
of values is affected by a highly significant (though by no means
peculiar) humanitarian notion of inherent individual rights—i. e.,
every member of the family or clan is entitled to necessary food and
raiment, and it is the duty of every other person to see that the need
is supplied. The stress of this duty is graded partly by proximity
(so that, other things equal, it begins with the nearest person),
but chiefly by standing and responsibility in the group (which again
are reckoned as equivalents of age), whereby it becomes the business
of the first at the feast to see that enough is left to supply all
below him; and this duty passes down the line in such wise as to
protect the interests of the helpless infant, and even of the tribal
good-for-naught or hanger-on, who may gather crumbs and lick bones
within limits fixed by the tribal consensus. Beyond these limits lies
outlawry; and this status arises and passes into the tribal recognition
in various ways: Kolusio was outlawed for consociating with aliens, and
Mashém narrowly missed the same fate at several stages of his career;
the would-be grooms who fail in their moral tests are ostracized and
at least semioutlawed, and range about like rogue elephants, approved
targets for any arrow, until they perish through the multiplied risks
of solitude, or until some brilliant opportunity for display of prowess
or generosity brings reinstatement; deformed offspring are classed as
outside the human pale, even when the deformity is defined rather by
occult associations than by physical features; abnormal and persistent
indolence, too serious for scorn and ostracism to cure, may also
outpass the tribal toleration; and, as indicated by Mashém’s guarded
expressions and slight additional data, disease, mental aberration,
and decrepitude are allied with indolence and deemed sufficient reason
for excluding the persistently helpless from the tribal solidarity,
and hence from recognized humanity—and the fate of the outlaw, even
if nothing more severe than abandonment in the desert, is usually
sure and swift. The entire customs of outlawry among the Seri are
singularly like those of gregarious animals, including especially kine
and swine in domestication. Now, studied equity in the distribution of
necessaries might seem to be allied to thrift; but it is noteworthy
that this is not so among the Seri, who take thought for one another
but not for the morrow, who seem to have no conception of storage (save
an incipient one in connection with water and the repulsive notion
underlying the “second harvest”), and who habitually gorge everything
in sight until their stomachs and gullets are packed—and then waste the
fragments.
The division of labor which affects proprietary interests is
undoubtedly affected in turn by the militant habit of the tribe and by
the frequent decimation of the warriors. In general, the adult males
limit their work to fighting and fishing, with occasional excursions
into the hunting field; though by far the greater part of their time
is spent in listless lounging or heedless slumber under the incidental
guard of roaming youths and toiling women. The matrons are the real
workers in the tribal hive; they are normally alert and active, passing
from one simple task to another, gathering flotsam food along the beach
or preparing edibles in the shadow of the jacal, with an eye ever on
material possessions and children; they frequently join in hunting
excursions of considerable extent; they are the chief manufacturers of
apparel, utensils, and tools; and the scions of Castilian caballeros
are not infrequently staggered at the sight of half a dozen Seri women
“milling” a band of horses, and at intervals leaping on one to kill it
with their hupfs. The masculine drones are the more petted and courted
by reason of their fewness, for during a century or two, at least, the
women have far outnumbered their consorts—a disproportion doubtless
tending in some respects toward the disintegration of the clan system
and, reciprocally, toward the firmer union of the tribe.
One of the most noteworthy extensions of feminine functions among
the Seri is toward shamanism. So far as could be ascertained from
Mashém and the associated matrons at Costa Rica, it is such beldams as
Juana Maria who concoct the arrow “poison”, compound both necromantic
medicines and curative simples, cast spells on men and things, and
even fabricate the stone arrowpoints and counterfeit cartridges;
though unhappily the data are neither so full nor so decisive as
desirable.[316]
[316] The agency of the women in applying the arrow “poison” was noted
by Hardy; cf. p. 258.
Conformably with their prominence in proprietary affairs, the Seri
matrons seem to exercise formal legislative and judicative functions;
for not only do they hold their own councils for the arrangement of
the domestic business of the rancherias, but they also participate
prominently in the tribal councils (as explained by Mashém), and play
important rôles in carrying out the decisions of such councils—as when
they cooperate with war parties as decoys, or journey across their
bounding desert to spy out the land of the enemy.
* * * * *
On the whole, it would appear that the clan organization of the Seri
conforms closely with that characteristic of savagery elsewhere,
especially among the American aborigines. The social unit is the
maternal clan, organized in theory and faith in homage of a beast-god,
though defined practically by the ocular consanguinity of birth from
a common line of mothers; yet the several units are pretty definitely
welded into a tribal aggregate by common feelings, identical interests,
and conjugal ties. The most distinctive features brought out by the
incomplete investigation are the somewhat exceptional manifestation of
property-right in the females, the singularly strong sense of maternal
relation, and the apparent prominence of females in shamanistic
practices as well as in the tribal councils.
CHIEFSHIP
The unformulated tribal laws of the Seri are intimately connected
with leadership, which is, in turn, largely a reflection of personal
characteristics; so that the tribal organization is about as variable
as that of the practically autonomous herds of cattle ranging the
Sonoran plains adjacent to Seriland. Indeed, just as the stock-clans
enjoy a precedence on pasturage and at waterholes, determined by the
valor and strength of the bulls by which they are led, so the Seri
clans appear to be graded by the prowess of their masculine leaders,
combined with the sortilegic success of the leaders’ consorts; while,
just as the leadership of the cattle shifts from band to band as the
years go by, according to the fairly equal hazard of natural selection,
so the clan dynasties of the human group rise, flourish, and decline
in an endless succession shaped by the chances of birth and survival
under a capricious environment, by the fate of battles internecine
and external, and by various other factors. The instability of the
Seri organization is demonstrated by the tribal changes recorded in
history, as well as by the vicissitudes within the memory of Señor
Encinas and others. At the beginning of the records the Upanguayma
were already exiled from Seriland proper and apparently suffering from
raids of their collinguals; within a century the Guayma, also, were
expatriated and nearly annihilated; then, in the early part of the
present century, the Tepoka were extruded and (after a series of wars
in active progress in Hardy’s time) forced far up the coast to one of
the poorest habitats ever occupied by any folk. So, too, throughout
the Encinas régime the internal dissensions continued whenever the
clans were not combined against aliens; and the veteran pioneer has
seen much intratribal strife, attended by the rise and passing of many
chiefs, both acknowledged and pretended, and often exercising chiefly
prerogatives two or three at a time. This instability grows largely out
of the fact that the essential unit is the clan, and that the tribe is
nothing more than a lax aggregation; and it is measurably explained by
the crude customs accompanying the choice of leaders.
As already noted, the clan organization is maternal, and the clanmother
is the central figure of the group; but the executive power resides
in her brothers in the order of seniority—i. e., while the personal
arrangement of the group is maternal, the appellate administration is
fraternal. So far as could be ascertained, the form of government is
clearly discriminable from that commonly styled avuncular; for, in
the first place, the minor administration accompanying the control
of property invests the elderwomen with exceptional legislative and
judicative powers, while, in the second place, there are no old men
(by reason of the militant habit), so that the reverence for age so
assiduously cultivated in primitive life extends to matrons much more
than to men. Classed with respect to major administration, therefore,
the clan may be regarded as an informal _adelphiarchy_ (ἀδελφὁς and
ἄρχος) or _adelphocracy_ (αδελφὁς and κρατὁς). It has none of the
elements of the patriarchy, since male lineage is not recognized,
and can not be classed as a matriarchy, since the clanmother is
administratively subordinate to her brothers; while the avuncular
functions are apparently inchoate and indirect, i. e., exercised only
through or in conjunction with the clanmother. In short, the clan is
ordinated or regimented in ostensible accordance with physical power,
though the real faculty is confused (after the fashion of primitive
thinking generally) with mystical faculties, imputed largely on magical
grounds but partly on grounds of age-reverence, etc. Now, when two
or more clans combine, the basis on which the common chiefship is
determined is similar to that determining the clan leadership; at the
outset three factors enter, viz., (1) the seniority of the clans in
the accepted tribal mythology, (2) the prowess of the respective clan
leaders (always weighed in conjunction with the shamanistic potency
of their consorts), and (3) the numerical strength of the respective
clans; but practically, so far as can be judged from all available
information, the choice really reflects physical force, since in case
of doubt the strongest and bravest man becomes the eldest by virtue of
his strength and bravery, while the strongest clan finds fair ground
for claiming seniority in the very fact of its strength. Naturally
disputes arise in the adjustment of the several relations; and in
the actual analysis in council, the dispute is commonly reduced to a
contest between gods and men, i. e., between the claims for mystical
and magical potencies on the one hand and the claims of brawn and bone
on the other hand, so that strength wins, unless omens or prodigies
turn the scale—which happens often enough to keep the subjective and
the objective elements in fairly equal balance. Sometimes the contests
are quickly settled; again they last for months, during which the
tribe struggles under its weight of Cerberus heads; and repeatedly the
disputes have ended in the annihilation of clans, or even in the tribal
fissions attested by the recorded and traditional history of the Serian
family.
The chiefship once determined, the leader bends all energies toward
maintaining the position by which he is dignified and his clan exalted.
He recognizes his responsibility for the welfare of the tribe—not only
for success in battle and food-getting, but for stilling storms at
sea, protecting the aguajes from the drought-demons, and securing all
other benefits, both physical and magical; he must be aggressive yet
cautious on the warpath, fleet and enduring in retreat, indomitable in
the chase, bold but not reckless on the balsa, and above all panoplied
and favored by the shadowy potencies of air and earth and waters; he
must be the local and lowly Admirable Crichton, and his never-neglected
watchword must be _noblesse oblige_. His practical devices for
maintaining prestige are many and diverse; it is commonly the chief who
carries the symbolic weapon, the counterfeit cartridge, the imitation
machete, or other charm against alien power; it is usually he who wears
the white man’s hat or random garment in lieu of the deer or lion mask
of earlier days; and during recent years his most-prized fetish, and
one which practically insures the support of his fellows, is a written
certificate of his chiefship from Señor Encinas, or, still better, from
El Gobernador at Hermosillo. Yet he is a throneless and even homeless
potentate, sojourning, like the rest of his fellows, in such jacales
as his two or three or four wives may erect, wandering with season
and sisterly whim, chased often by rumors of invasion or by fearsome
dreams, and restrained by convention even from chiding his own children
in his wives’ jacales save through the intercession of female relatives.
In 1894 the head chief was reported to be on Tiburon; the putative
chief of the rancheria at Costa Rica was the taciturn giant known as El
Mudo (plate XIX); while Mashém (or Juan Estorga) was the head of one of
the Pelican clans.
ADOPTION
One of the more important factors in demotic development among
primitive peoples (probably second only to interclan marriage in
extending sympathy and unifying law) is adoption; and special efforts
were made to obtain data relating to the subject. Direct inquiries were
futile, the responses indicating that the entire subject is foreign to
the thought of the tribe; but three sporadic and measurably incongruous
examples of quasi adoption are worthy of record.
The most specific case is that of Lieutenant Hardy, who visited Isla
Tiburon in 1826, and was fortunate in gaining the confidence of the
tribe through successful medical treatment of the wife of the chief. On
his second landing he was greeted with many expressions of gratitude,
which were especially exuberant on the part of the daughter of the
family (always a personage in Seri custom), who insisted on painting
his face. He specifies:
Not wishing to deny her the indulgence of this innocent frolic,
I quietly suffered her to proceed. She mixed up part of a cake
of blue color, which resembles ultramarine (and of which I
have a specimen), in a small shell; in another, a white color,
obtained by ground talc, and in a third was mixed a color
obtained from the red flint-stone of the class which I before
stated was to be found on Seal Island, and resembled cinnabar.
With the assistance of a pointed stick the tender artist
formed perpendicular narrow stripes down my cheeks and nose,
at such distances apart as to admit of an equally narrow white
line between them. With equal delicacy and skill the tops and
bottoms of the white lines were finished off with a white spot.
If the cartilage of my nose at the nostrils had been perforated
so as to admit a small, round, white bone, five inches in
length, tapering off at both ends and rigged something like a
cross-jack yard, I might have been mistaken for a native of
the island. As soon as the operation was finished, the whole
party set up a roar of merry laughter, and called me “Hermano,
Capitan Tiburow,” being the very limited extent of their
knowledge of Spanish.[317]
[317] Travels, p. 286.
While the lieutenant attached no significance to the painting, the
procedure would seem to have been a ceremonial adoption, such as
might, for example, be used in connection with a confederate clan.
The description of the painting is sufficiently explicit to identify
the totem with that of the Turtle clan, represented by the clanmother
and the daughter of the clan at Costa Rica in 1894 (plates XVIII and
XXIV); but it is noteworthy that the salutation with which the ceremony
terminated, and which may be rendered “Captain-Brother of the Sharks”,
would seem to identify the totem with the shark rather than the
turtle.[318]
[318] This identification may possibly be correct; the collocation of
the totem with the turtle was shaped through unwilling and perhaps
misleading responses made by Mashém to inquiries in 1894—these
responses denoting a sea monster which in the beginning helped the
Ancient of Pelicans to make the world by pushing from below, and which
is now very good food—a description apparently fitting the turtle more
closely than the other animal.
The second case of adoption (if so it may be styled) was that of Señor
Encinas, after his bloodiest battle, in which nearly all of the Seri
warriors were left on the field. In this case there was no ceremony,
or at least none remembered by the beneficiary; he was merely informed
by a delegation of aged dames that thenceforth he would be regarded as
a stronger and more invulnerable chief (shaman) than any member of the
tribe, and hence as the tribal leader.
The third instance is still less definite, though it seems to be
trustworthy. There is a widespread tradition throughout Sonora that in
the course of a brush between a band of Papago hunters and a marauding
bunch of Seri warriors in the mountains southeast of Cieneguilla
twenty-five or thirty years ago, a Papago maiden was captured and
carried off to Tiburon; and that for some years thereafter—i. e.,
until the Papago had taken ample blood-vengeance—the intertribal
animosity was exceptionally bitter. No wholly satisfactory basis for
the traditions could be found among the Papago, though some of the
silences of the old men were suggestive; nor was the tradition fully
credited by Señor Encinas, despite its deep lodgment in the minds
of some of his yeomanry. When Mashém was interrogated on different
occasions, he merely shook his head in stolid silence; but when the
device was adopted of inquiring the number of Papago children brought
into the tribe through this woman, he responded promptly with a snort
of scorn, and followed this with the explanation that she never had
children, and could not because she was an alien slave. The explanation
was corroborated by clanmother Juana Maria and other matrons, with
sundry expressions of contemptuous disapproval of the inquiry and scorn
of the very idea that aliens could fructify within the tribe. Later,
the ice being broken, Mashém intimated that the woman had recently
died of old age and its consequences—doubtless as an outcast. On the
whole, the direct testimony would seem to substantiate the tradition,
and to supplement it with the short and simple annals of a spouseless
and childless life (incredible of other tribes, but consistent with
the customs of the Seri), endured for many years and ending at last in
unpitied death.
Collectively the cases seem to define a germ, rather than a mature
custom, of adoption. In the first case a benefactor (by means regarded
as magical) was formally inducted into the reigning family; in the
second case the conquering hero (through what were again regarded
as magical means) was less formally recognized and venerated, even
worshiped, as an all-powerful shaman; while in the third case a
representative of the doughtiest alien tribe was enslaved, probably
with motives akin to those expressed in the carrying of chargeless
guns, the making of imitation machetes, and other fetishistic devices.
Except in the first instance there is no indication of consistent
custom; but since the entire history of the tribe clearly contradicts
regulated adoption of aliens (and indeed affords no other example),
it must be inferred that any such custom is intratribal rather than
intertribal.
MARRIAGE
The most striking and significant social facts discovered among the
Seri relate to marriage customs.
As noted repeatedly elsewhere, the tribal population is preponderantly
feminine, so that polygyny naturally prevails; the number of wives
reaches three or possibly four, averaging about two, though the
younger warriors commonly have but one, and there are always a number
of spouseless (widowed) dames but no single men of marriageable age.
So far as could be ascertained, no special formalities attend the
taking of supernumerary wives, who are usually widowed sisters of the
first spouse; it seems to be practically a family affair, governed by
considerations of convenience rather than established regulations—an
irregularity combining with other facts to suggest that polygyny is
incidental, and perhaps of comparatively recent origin.
The primary mating of the Seri is attended by observances so elaborate
as to show that marriage is one of the profoundest sacraments of the
tribe, penetrating the innermost recesses of tribal thought, and
interwoven with the essential fibers of tribal existence. Few if any
other peoples devote such anxious care to their mating as do the
Seri;[319] and among no other known tribe or folk is the moral aspect
of conjugal union so rigorously guarded by collective action and
individual devotion.
[319] Perhaps the closest parallel in this respect is that found in
the elaborate marriage regulations prevailing among the Australian
aborigines, as described by Spencer and Gillen, Walter E. Roth, and
other modern observers.
The initial movement toward formal marriage seems to be somewhat
indefinite (or perhaps, rather, spontaneous); according to Mashém it
may be made either by the prospective groom or else by his father,
though not directly by the maiden or her kinswomen. In any event
the prerequisites for the union are provisionally determined in the
suitor’s family; these relate to the suitability of age, the propriety
of the clan relation, etc.; for no stripling may seriously contemplate
matrimony until he has entered manhood (apparently corresponding with
the warrior class), nor can he mate in his own totem, though all other
clans of the tribe are apparently open to him; while the maiden must
have passed (apparently by a considerable time) her puberty feast. In
any event, too, the proposal is formally conveyed by the elderwoman
of the suitor’s family to the maiden’s clanmother, when it is duly
pondered, first by this dame and her daughter matrons; and later
(if the proposal is entertained) it is deliberated and discussed at
length by the matrons of the two clans involved, who commonly hold
repeated councils for the purpose. At an undetermined stage and to
an undetermined degree the maiden herself is consulted; certainly
she holds the power of veto, ostensible if not actual. Pending the
deliberations the maiden receives special consideration and enjoys
various dignities; if circumstances favor, her kinswomen erect a jacal
for her; and even if circumstances are adverse, she is outfitted with a
pelican robe of six or eight pelts and other matronly requisites. When
all parties concerned are eventually satisfied a probationary marriage
is arranged, and the groom leaves his clan and attaches himself to
that of the bride. Two essential conditions—one of material character
and the other moral—are involved in this probationary union; in the
first place, the groom must become the provider for, and the protector
of, the entire family of the bride, including the dependent children
and such cripples and invalids as may be tolerated by the tribe—i.
e., he must display and exercise skill in turtle-fishing, strength
in the chase, subtlety in warfare, and all other physical qualities
of competent manhood. This relation, with the attendant obligations,
holds for a year, i. e., a round of the seasons. During the same
period the groom shares the jacal and sleeping robe provided for the
prospective matron by her kinswomen, not as privileged spouse, but
merely as a protecting companion; and throughout this probationary
term he is compelled to maintain continence—i. e., he must display the
most indubitable proofs of moral force. During this period the always
dignified position occupied by the daughter of the family culminates;
she is the observed of all observers, the subject of gossip among
matrons and warriors alike, the recipient of frequent tokens from
designing sisters with an eye to shares of her spouse’s spoils, and
the receiver of material supplies measuring the competence of the
would-be husband; through his energy she is enabled to dispense largess
with lavish hand, and thus to dignify her clan and honor her spouse
in the most effective way known to primitive life; and at the same
time she enjoys the immeasurable moral stimulus of realizing that she
is the arbiter of the fate of a man who becomes warrior or outcast at
her bidding, and through him of the future of two clans—i. e., she is
raised to a responsibility in both personal and tribal affairs which,
albeit temporary, is hardly lower than that of the warrior-chief. In
tribal theory the moral test measures the character of the man; in
very fact, it at the same time both measures and makes the character
of the woman. Among other privileges bestowed on the bride during
the probationary period are those of receiving the most intimate
attentions from the clanfellows of the groom; and these are noteworthy
as suggestions of a vestigial polyandry or adelphogamy. At the close of
the year the probation ends in a feast provided by the probationer, who
thereupon enters the bride’s jacal as a perpetual guest of unlimited
personal privileges (subject to tribal custom); while the bride passes
from a half-wanton heyday into the duller routine of matronly existence.
These details were elicited at Costa Rica in 1894 through methodical
inquiries made in connection with the linguistic collection. This
collection was made with the cooperation of Señor Alvemar-Leon as
Spanish-English interpreter, together with Mashém and (commonly) the
clanmother known as Juana Maria. Usually quite a group of Seri matrons
with two or three warriors were gathered about, and to these Mashém
frequently appealed for advice and verification, while they constantly
expressed approval or disapproval of questions and replies, as gathered
through Mashém’s words and mien, in such manner as to afford a fair
index of their habitual thought—e. g., when the Seri vernacular
for “twins” was obtained and the inquiry was extended (by normal
association of ideas) to the term for “triplets”, Mashém collapsed into
moody silence while the rest of the group decamped incontinently with
horror-stricken countenances—thereby suggesting cautious subsequent
inquiry, and the discovery that triplets are deemed evil monsters
and their production a capital crime. It was in one of the earlier
conferences that the first intimations concerning the unusual marital
customs were incidentally brought out; the Caucasian interpreter and
bystanders were diverted by the naive reference to the moral test,
but their expressions were hastily checked lest the native informants
might be startled and rendered secretive; then, during two later
conferences, when Mashém and several matrons were freely participating
in the proceedings, the line of inquiry was so turned as to touch on
various aspects of the marriage custom and bring out all essential
features; so that much confidence is reposed in the accuracy of the
details.[320] The confidence in the verity of the customs was such as
not to be impaired seriously by the fact that no records of coincident
moral tests were known in the voluminous literature of marriage and its
concomitants; nor was it shaken by the still weightier fact that none
of the experienced ethnologists to whom inquiries were addressed during
ensuing months were acquainted with parallel customs—indeed the only
shadow of corroboration thus obtained came in the form of references to
the widespread requirement of continence in war and ceremonies, and to
an affectation of self-restraint for a moon on the part of Zuñi grooms
noted by Frank Hamilton Cushing. Accordingly the facts were announced
in a preliminary paper,[321] and were shown to stand in such relation
to the marital customs of other aboriginal tribes as practically to
demonstrate their validity, and at the same time to locate the Seri
customs on a lower plane of cultural development than any hitherto
definitely recognized.
[320] It may be observed that Kolusio, when visited in January, 1896,
failed to corroborate the descriptions of Mashém and the matrons; but
his failure occasioned little surprise for the reason that he has not
lived with his tribe since early boyhood, and is equally uninformed (or
uncommunicative) concerning the myths, ceremonies, and even the totems
of the tribe.
[321] The Beginning of Marriage, American Anthropologist, vol. IX,
1896, pp. 371-383.
Happily, subsequent researches have resulted in the discovery of
records corroborative of the primitive customs observed by the Seri,
and also of the assignment of serial place to these customs. The most
specific record is that of John Giles (or Gyles), who spent his youth
as a captive among the northeastern Algonquian Indians (probably the
Maliseet or some closely related Abnaki tribe), from August 2, 1689,
to June 28, 1698. Referring to the marital customs of the tribe, he
observed:
If parents have a daughter marriageable, they seek a husband
for her who is a good hunter. If she has been educated to make
_monoodah_ (Indian bags), birch dishes, to lace snowshoes, make
Indian shoes, string wampum belts, sew birch canoes, and boil
the kettle, she is esteemed a lady of fine accomplishments. If
the man sought out for her husband have a gun and ammunition,
a canoe, a spear, a hatchet, a monoodah, a crooked knife,
looking-glass and paint, a pipe, tobacco, and knot-bowl to toss
a kind of dice in, he is accounted a gentleman of a plentiful
fortune. Whatever the new married man procures the first year
belongs to his wife’s parents. If the young pair have a child
within a year and nine months, they are thought to be very
forward and libidinous persons.[322]
[322] Memoirs of Odd Adventures, Strange Deliverances, etc. in
the Captivity of John Giles, Esq., Commander of the Garrison on
Saint George river, in the District of Maine. Written by Himself.
Originally published at Boston, 1736. Printed for William Dodge.
Cincinnati: Spiller & Gates, printers, 168 Vine street. 1869.—P.
45.
This record is of peculiar interest in that it definitely specifies
a custom corresponding with the material test of the Seri, and
unmistakably implies the existence, at least in vestigial or
sentimental form, of a custom corresponding with the moral test of
Seriland; and it is particularly noteworthy as coming from a remote
tribe occupying a distant part of the continent.
A somewhat less specific corroboration is found in Lawson’s account of
the Carolina tribes. He observes:
When any young Indian has a mind for such a girl to his wife,
he, or some one for him, goes to the young woman’s parents,
if living; if not, to her nearest relations, where they make
offers of the match betwixt the couple. The relations reply,
they will consider of it; which serves for a sufficient answer,
till there be a second meeting about the marriage, which is
generally brought into debate before all the relations, that
are old people, on both sides, and sometimes the king, with all
his great men, give their opinions therein. If it be agreed on,
and the young woman approve thereof, for these savages never
give their children in marriage without their own consent, the
man pays so much for his wife; and the handsomer she is the
greater price she bears. Now, it often happens that the man
has not so much of their money ready as he is to pay for his
wife; but if they know him to be a good hunter, and that he can
raise the sum agreed for, in some few moons, or any little
time they agree, she shall go along with him as betrothed, but
he is not to have any knowledge of her till the utmost payment
is discharged; all which is punctually observed. Thus they lie
together under one covering for several months, and the woman
remains the same as she was when she first came to him.[323]
[323] The History of Carolina, etc., by John Lawson (1714), reprint of
1860, pp. 302-303. Attention was called to this passage by Mr James
Mooney.
This record also is peculiarly pertinent, partly in that it practically
corroborates the Seri testimony, but chiefly in that it indicates
definite transition toward a higher culture-plane in which the
primitive material test is at least partially replaced by a commutation
in goods or their equivalents.
* * * * *
On reducing the marital customs of the Seri to conventional terms,
the more prominent features are found to be (1) strict clan exogamy
and (2) absolute tribal endogamy, together with (3) theoretical or
constructive monogamy, coupled with (4) vague traces of polyandry, and
(5) an apparently superficial polygyny, as well as (6) total absence of
purchase or capture of either spouse.
On reviewing the customs in the light of their influence on the
everyday life of the tribe, certain features stand out conspicuously:
(1) Perhaps the most striking feature is the collective character of
the function; for while the movement originates in personal inclination
on the part of the suitor and is shaped by personal inclination on
the part of the maiden, all manifestations of inclination are open
and public (at least to the elders of the two clans involved), while
the personal sentiments on both sides are completely subordinated to
the public interests of clans and tribe as weighed and decided by the
matronly lawgivers and adelphiarchal administratives. Thus neither
man nor maid mates for thonself, but both love and move in the tribal
interests and along the lines laid down by the tribal leaders. (2)
As a corollary or a complement (according to the viewpoint) to the
collectivity of the mating, the next most striking feature is the
formal or legal aspect of the union; for the entire affair, from
inception to consummation, is rigorously regulated by precedents
and usages handed down from an immemorial past. Thus the roots of
young affection are not destroyed but rather cultivated, though the
burgeoning vine and the outreaching tendrils are trained to a social
structure shaped in ages gone and kept in the olden form by unbroken
tradition. (3) A collateral feature of the customs is the necessary
reaction of the requirements on individual character of both groom
and bride; for the would-be warrior-spouse is compelled to display
high qualities of physical and moral manhood on pain of ostracism
and outlawry, so that his passions of ambition and affection are at
once stimulated to the highest degree, while the maiden’s pride of
blood and possession and her sense of regnant responsibility are
fostered to the utmost. The brief preliminary courtship and the long
probationary mating mark an era of intensification in two lives at
their most impressionable stage; and if there be aught in the simple
yet puissant law of conjugal conation—that law whose motive underlies
the world’s song and story and all the pulsing progress of mankind as
the inspiration of most men’s work and most women’s hopes—the vital
intensity of this era passes down the line of blood-descent to the
betterment of later generations. (4) Another collateral feature is the
necessary reaction on clan and tribe; for not only does the individual
character-making raise the average physique and morale of the group,
but the carefully studied restraint of excessive individuality serves
to strengthen still further the tribal bonds and to lift still higher
the racial bar against aliens. The blackest crime in the Seri calendar
is the toleration of alien blood; and no more effective device could be
found for keeping alive the race-sense on which this canon depends than
that virtually sacramental surveillance of sexual intimacy which Seri
usage requires.[324]
[324] The remarkable race-sense of the tribe, with the conjugal
conation in which it seems to root, are discussed ante, pp. 160*-163*.
There is nothing to indicate, and much to contraindicate, that the
Seri are consciously engaged in stirpiculture; yet their social and
fiducial devices would seem to be no less effective in developing
race-sense, with its concomitants, than were those of prehistoric men
in developing the physical attributes of animal associates, such as
the wool-bearing of the sheep, the egg-laying of the fowl, and the
milk-giving of the cow; or the still more striking mental attributes,
such as the servility of the horse, the fidelity of the dog, and the
domesticity of the cat. All these attributes are artificial, though
not consciously so to their producers, hardly even to modern users;
they are by-products of long-continued breeding and exercise, commonly
directed toward collateral ends (as when the horse was bred for
speed, the dog for hunting, and the fowl and cat for beauty); and,
similarly, the Seri race-sense would seem to be largely a by-product
of faith-shaped customs designed primarily to propitiate or invoke
mystical potencies—yet the collateral effect is not diminished because
overlooked in the primary motive.
* * * * *
On scanning the conventional classifications of human marriage in the
light of the Seri customs, it becomes clear that these customs define
a plane not hitherto recognized observationally. For convenience, this
plane and the mode of marriage defining it may, in special allusion
to the correlative race-sense, be styled _ethnogamy_; and the more
systematic characters of this mode and plane of marriage may be
outlined briefly:
1. The most conspicuous character of ethnogamic union, as manifested
in the type tribe, is its absolute confinement to the consanguineal
group. The breach of this limitation is hardly conceivable in the
minds of the group, since aliens are not classed as human, nor even
dignified as animals of the kinds deified in their lowly faith, but
contemned as unclean and loathsome monsters; yet the infraction has a
sort of theoretical place at the head of their calendar as an utterly
intolerable crime. In respect to this character, ethnogamy corresponds
fairly with the endogamy of McLennan, Spencer, and others, i. e., with
the tribal endogamy of Powell.
2. A hardly less conspicuous character of ethnogamic union is the
formality, or legality, accompanying and reflecting the collective
nature of the function. In this respect ethnogamy is the direct
antithesis of that hypothetical promiscuity postulated by Morgan and
adopted by Spencer, Lubbock, Tylor, and others; and the customs of the
type tribe go farther, perhaps, than any other example in verifying
the alternative assumption of Westermarck that the course of conjugal
development is rather from monogamy toward promiscuity than in the
reverse direction.
3. A noteworthy character of ethnogamic union is the absence of
capture of either bride or groom. Any semblance of capture would
indeed be wholly incongruous with the rigid confinement of union to
members of the group: it would also be incongruous with the exceeding
formality and necessary amicability of both preliminary and concomitant
arrangements.
4. Another noteworthy character is the total absence of purchase on
either part. Although a material condition attends the union, it is
essentially a test of character, and is applied in such wise as to
dignify the feminine element rather than to degrade it like barbaric
wife-purchase; while any semblance of purchase would be incongruous
with the economic condition of a tribe practically destitute of
accumulated property or even of thrift-sense.
5. A significant character of ethnogamic union, as exemplified in the
type tribe, is the ceremonial or constructive monogamy. While there
are obscure (and presumptively vestigial) traces of polyandry or
adelphogamy, and while an informal polygyny is practiced by the chiefs
and older warriors, the formal matings are between one man and one
woman, and appear to be permanent.
Now, on comparing these characters with those revealed in the marital
customs of other tribes and peoples, they are found to betoken a
notably provincial and primitive culture-stage. Perhaps the nearest
American approach to the Seri customs is found among certain California
aborigines, notably the Yurok and Patawat tribes, who recognize the
institution of “half-marriage”;[325] but here the material test of
Seriland is replaced by purchase, while no trace of the moral test
is found (even as among the Carolina Indians, according to Lawson);
moreover, while these tribes discourage alien connections, they are
not absolutely eschewed and reprobated as among the Seri. Other
notably primitive customs, like those so fully described by Spencer
and Gillen, have been found among the Australian aborigines;[326]
but even here a part only of the marriages are regulated by amicable
convention, while others are effected by (1) charm, (2) capture,
and (3) elopement; and these collateral devices imply intertribal
relations of a kind incongruous with the ethnogamic habit and utterly
repugnant to the ethnogamic instinct. In both cases, accordingly, the
marital customs clearly imply (and actually accompany) a much more
highly differentiated socialry and economy than that of the Seri. The
same is true of that vestigial custom of the Scottish clans known
as handfasting, which is, moreover, a direct antithesis of the Seri
custom in that it carries a warrant for, rather than an abridgment of,
conjugal prerogatives; and the same might be said also of various
South American, African, and southeastern Asian customs.
[325] Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. III, 1877 (Tribes
of California, by Stephen Powers), pp. 56, 98.
[326] The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 1899, pp. 554-560 and
elsewhere.
Certain representative North American customs have already been
seriated in connection with the Seri customs, and their relations
are of sufficient significance to warrant recapitulation. The series
begins with the maternally organized and practically propertyless Seri.
Next stand the Zuñi, with an essentially maternal organization, the
vestigial moral test of the groom noted by Cushing, and a concomitant
material test verging on purchase; so, too, monogamy persists, while
the function remains largely collective, and is regulated by the
elders, though the bride enjoys special prerogatives; and the fierce
tribal endogamy is relaxed, though clan exogamy is enforced. Measurably
similar to those of the Zuñi are the marital customs of the peaceful
Tarahumari tribe of northern Mexico and the once warlike Seneca tribe
of northeastern United States, although among both of these more
cosmopolitan peoples the regulations are less closely similar to the
Seri customs than are those of the Pueblo tribe named. Next in order of
marital differentiation stand the Kwakiutl and Salish tribes of British
Columbia, in which the social organization has practically passed
into the paternal stage; here the laws of monogamy, clan exogamy, and
tribal endogamy are materially relaxed, the moral test is lost among
the Kwakiutl and reduced to a curious vestige among the Salish, while
the material test is commuted into the making of expensive presents.
Still more remote from the initial stage is the marriage of the
paternally organized Omaha, among whom tribal endogamy is prevalent but
not absolute, while polygyny is customary; among whom the moral test
seems wholly obsolete, while the material test is completely replaced
by purchase (or at least by the interchange of expensive presents);
and among whom, concordantly, the feminine privileges are few and
the females are practically degraded to the rank of property of male
kindred or spouses. These several customs fall into a natural order
or series definitely coordinated with the esthetic, the industrial
or economic, and the general institutional or social conditions of
the respective tribes; and it is noteworthy that they mark successive
stages in that passage from the mechanical to the spontaneous which
characterizes demotic activity.[327]
[327] Cf. The Beginning of Marriage, op. cit. The conclusion from
the details discussed in this paper is as follows: “Summarizing the
tendencies revealed in this history, it would appear that the course of
evolution [of conjugal institutions] has been from the simple to the
complex, from the definite to the indefinite, from the general to the
special, from the fixed to the variable, from the involuntary to the
voluntary, from the mechanical to the spontaneous, from the provincial
to the cosmopolitan, or, in brief, from the chiefly biotic to the
wholly demotic” (p. 283).
In brief, ethnogamy, as exemplified by the type tribe, accompanies
that strictly maternal organization which marks the lowest known
stage of social development; it accompanies also a rudimentary
esthetic condition in which decorative symbols are restricted to the
expression of maternal relation; it accompanies, in like manner, an
inchoate economic condition characterized by absence of property and
thrift-sense; while its most essential concomitant is extratribal
antipathy too bitter to permit toleration of alien blood, or even of
alien presence save under the constraint of superior force.
MORTUARY CUSTOMS
The prevailing opinion among the better informed Caucasian neighbors of
the Seri is that the tribesmen display an inhuman indifference to their
dead; and this opinion is one of the factors—combining with current
notions as to cannibalism and arrow-poisoning and beastlike toothing in
battle—involved in the widespread feeling that the tribesmen are to be
accounted as mongrel and uncanny monsters rather than human beings.
The opinion that the Seri neglect their dead on occasion would seem
to rest on a considerable body of evidence; Mendoza’s record of
the numberless neglected corpses of warriors polluting the air and
poisoning the streams of Cerro Prieto in 1757 would seem to be unusual
only in its fulness; and Señor Encinas, albeit so conservative as to
repudiate the reputed anthropophagy and to recognize better qualities
among the folk than any contemporary, declares that they are utterly
negligent of their dead, save that when the bodies lie near rancherias
heaps of brambles are thrown over them to bar—and thus to lessen
the disturbance from—prowling coyotes. Quite indubitable, too, is
the specific testimony of vaqueros to the effect that Seri raiders
overtaken by the Draconian penalty of the frontier merely lie where
they fall, even when this is well within reach of the tribesmen,
Don Andrés Noriega’s verification of his boast (ante, p. 113) being
an instance in point. On the other hand stands the conspicuous fact
(unknown to the frontiersman) that well-marked cemeteries adjoin
some of the rancherias of interior Seriland. The sum of the somewhat
discrepant evidence accords with a characteristically unsatisfactory
statement by Mashém, to the effect that the mourning ceremonies are
important only in connection with women—i. e., matrons—because “the
woman is just like the family” (“la muger es como la familia”); and
this intimation, in turn, is corroborated by the single known instance
of inhumation in Seriland, as well as by certain indirect indications
connected with the scatophagic customs (ante, p. 213). On the whole
it seems certain that the mortuary ceremonies attain their highest
development in connection with females, the recognized blood-bearers
and legislators of the tribe.
The special dignification of females in respect to funerary rites is
without precise parallel among other American aborigines, so far as
is known, but is not without analogues in the shape of (presumptive)
vestiges of a former magnification of matrons in the mortuary customs
of certain tribes. The vestiges are especially clear among the
Iroquoian Indians, whose aboriginal socialry coincided with that of
the Seri at various points; witness the following passage from the
Onondaga mourning ritual, as collected and translated by Hewitt:
Now, moreover, again, another thing, indeed, our voices come
forth to utter; and is it not that that we say, that far
yonder the Hoyaner [chief of highest grade] who labored for
us so well is falling away as falls a tree? So, moreover,
it is these things that he bears away with him—this file of
mat-carriers, warriors all, visible and present here; also
this file of those who customarily dance the corn-dances [the
women]—they go prosperously. And alas! How utterly calamitous
is that thing that occurs when the body of this woman falls!
For, verily, far yonder in the length of the file will the
file of our grandchildren be removed! These our grandchildren
who run hither and thither in sport, these our grandchildren
who by creeping drag themselves about in the dust, these our
grandchildren whose bodies are slung to cradle-boards, and even
those of them whose faces are looking hitherward as they come
under the ground.[328]
[328] MS in the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A
somewhat more obscure version was recorded by Hale in “The Iroquois
Book Rites”: “Now, there is another thing we say, we younger brothers.
He who has worked for us has gone afar off; and he also will in time
take with him all these—the whole body of warriors and also the whole
body of women—they will go with him. But it is still harder when the
woman shall die, because with her the line is lost. And also the
grandchildren and the little ones who are running around—these he will
take away; and also those that are creeping on the ground, and also
those that are on the cradle-boards; all these he will take away with
him.” (Brinton’s Library of Aboriginal American Literature, number ii,
1883, pp. 141-143.)
The identifiable cemeteries of Seriland are few and small—much less
populous than might be expected of a tribe numbering several hundreds
for centuries, and able to maintain well-worn trails threading all
parts of their rugged domain. Three graves were noted near the
abandoned rancheria at Pozo Escalante; one was observed near a jacal
skeleton at Barranca Salina; five or six were made out doubtfully on
a low spur adjacent to Punta Antigualla; another was found near the
rancheria midway thence to Punta Ygnacio; still another was doubtfully
identified hard by a ruinous jacal just where the foothills of
Sierra Seri descend to the plain stretching toward Punta Miguel; and
this distribution may be deemed representative. A scant half-dozen
perceptible graves were observed near the considerable rancheria of
Punta Narragansett, which was numerously inhabited during the Dewey
surveys of 1873; one was found adjoining the old jacal near Campo
Navidad; but none were discovered in connection with the extensive
rancheria on Rada Ballena. The largest known cemetery occupies the
triangular point of shrub-dotted plain pushing out toward the site of
the old rancheria at the base of Punta Tormenta; it comprises perhaps
a score of evidently ancient graves, while two newer ones were found
on the pebble bar beyond the jacales. When near the pebbly beaches
the graves are marked by heaps of pebbles and small cobbles, commonly
about the size of those used as hupfs, these cairns being 3 or 4 feet
long, two-thirds as wide, and seldom over 12 or 15 inches in height;
and most of the cairns are accompanied and enlarged by piles (ranging
from a peck to a bushel) of the scatophagic shells already noted. The
graves remote from pebbly beaches are marked by heaps of cholla stems
and branches, rudely thatched with miscellaneous brambles roughly
pinned together by okatilla stems, the shocks being sometimes nearly
as high and broad as the jacales. A few of the scatophagic shells were
found about the bramble-marked graves at Pozo Escalante, and a single
one at Barranca Salina. In general the association of cemeteries and
rancherias, or of graves and jacales, indicates that habitations are
usually abandoned for a time when a death occurs within or near them.
[Illustration: FIG. 39—Mortuary olla.]
The most conspicuous cairn seen in Seriland was well within Tiburon.
It stands on the southern side of a little rock-butte about a mile and
a half east-southeast of Tinaja Anita, south of the main arroyo, and
near where the trail from the tinaja bifurcates toward Arroyo Carrizal
and Punta Narragansett, respectively. It is shadowed by a notably large
and widespreading paloverde, and is in the form of a cone estimated at
7 feet in height and 18 or 20 feet across the base. The materials, at
least on the surface, are rounded pebbles and cobbles, possibly from
the adjacent arroyos, though more probably from the beaches, of which
the nearest is miles away. It was not determined to be mortuary.[329]
[329] As an indication of the conditions for observation in Seriland,
this cairn is fairly typical: it was seen but once (on December
25, 1895), and the observation was limited to a few minutes by the
attendant circumstances. On the evening before the party landed at
Campo Navidad, with the hope of working up the coast nearly or quite
to Punta Tormenta on the following day; but before morning a downbay
gale was whitening the waters of Bahia Kunkaak so fiercely as to
prohibit embarkation. Meantime the supply of water—that standard
commodity of arid regions—was too nearly exhausted to permit inaction;
so while Mr Johnson with three guards ascended the Sierra to establish
a new topographic station, the leader of the party with the remaining
seven men set out in search of water. The nearest known aguaje was
that of Arroyo Carrizal; but under the hypothesis that some of the
better-beaten trails turning northward might lead to nearer water,
one of them was taken; and after turning back from half a dozen false
scents, the principal trail was followed to the well-known Tinaja
Anita, 15 miles by the trail from Campo Navidad; and here the party
watered. It was on the return trip that the cairn was discovered;
but the party were laden with filled canteens and saucepans and
coffeepots, the day was well spent, and the camp more than a dozen
miles distant even over the air line traversing spall-sprinkled taluses
and sharp-edged rocks; moreover, the men were naturally and necessarily
heavily armed and on constant guard. Accordingly even the short stay
and cursory notes involved an additional mile of darkness on a trail
so rough as to cut through shoe-soles and sandals and catch scents of
blood to tempt coyotes to the camp site. Thus it was that the cairn was
not more critically examined and is not more fully described.
On the death of the matron, a grave is scooped out by means of shells
a few yards from her jacal, preference being given to relatively
elevated or commanding points. The excavation is about 30 inches (90
cm.) in depth; within it is placed first the pelican-skin robe of
the deceased, so arranged as to fold over the body; then the corpse,
dressed in the ordinary costume of life, is compressed into small
compass by closely flexing the knees and bringing them against the
thorax, extending the arms around and along the lower limbs so that
hands and feet are together, and bending the head forward on the chest;
when it is deposited in the receptacle in such manner as to lie on the
left side, facing northward. Near the face is laid a dish of baked
clay or a large shell filled with food, and beside it a small olla of
water (an actual example is shown in figure 39), while the hupf, awls,
hairbrush, olla-ring, and other domestic paraphernalia are placed near
the hands. Next the personal fetishes and votive symbols (in the form
of puppets or dolls such as those shown in figure 40 _a_ and _b_) of
the dead mother are slipped beneath the face, and her paint-cup, with
a plentiful supply of paint, is added; the poor personal possessions,
in the form of shell-beads and miscellaneous trinketry, are then heaped
over the face and shoulders, and these are covered with the superfluous
garments and miscellaneous property of the deceased. Finally the
pelican-pelt bedding is folded over the body, and two turtle-shells
are laid over all as a kind of coffin, when the grave is carefully
filled, and the ground so smoothed as to leave no mark of the burial.
During subsequent hours the stones for the cairn or the cholla-joints
and other brambles for the brush-heap are piled over the spot, while
the scatophagic shells are added at intervals apparently for weeks or
months and perhaps for years after the burial.
[Illustration: FIG. 40—Woman’s fetishes.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41—Food for the long journey.]
The mortuary food is carefully selected for appropriate qualities
(i. e., for “strength” in the notion of the mourners). It comprises
portions of turtle-flippers, and, if practicable, a chunk of charred
plastron—the food substance especially associated with long and hard
journeys—with a few fresh mollusks, and, judging from a single good
example as well as from analogy, one or two scatophagic shells. The
remains of a funerary feast are illustrated in figures 41 and 42, the
latter being the scatophagic receptacle utilized apparently in the
absence of the customary Noah’s ark. It may be significant that this
shell is perforated at the apex, evidently by long wave-wear before
utilization, and that the accompanying olla bears marks of having been
broken, then repaired, and afterward perforated, as illustrated in the
photo-mechanical reproduction (figure 39); for these features perhaps
express that idea of “killing” mortuary sacrifices, ostensibly to fit
them to the condition of the deceased, though really (in subconscious
practicality) to protect the sepulcher from predation.[330]
[330] “In all stages of development belief runs a close race against
cupidity, and is sometimes distanced; so the sages learn that even a
buried weapon may be a source of contention, which they thenceforward
forestall by breaking or burning it.” (Primitive Trephining in Peru;
Sixteenth Ann. Rep., Bureau of American Ethnology, 1897, p. 22.)
[Illustration: FIG. 42—Mortuary cup.]
Soon after the death (immediately after the burial, so nearly as
could be ascertained) there is an apparently ceremonial mourning,
in which the matrons of the clan, and, at least to some extent, the
warriors also, participate. The mourners wail loudly, throw earth and
ashes or ordure on their heads, and beat and bruise (but apparently
avoid scarifying) their breasts, faces, and arms. This is continued,
culminating daily about the hour of interment, for several days—unless
the rancheria is sooner abandoned, in which case the period of formal
mourning is shortened.
In addition to the formal mourning of matrons there is a custom
of nocturnal wailing after the death of warriors in battle, and,
apparently, also, following the death of matrons or nubile maidens,
which attracts the notice of frontier rancheros and vaqueros. According
to their accounts the first note of lamentation may be sounded at any
hour of the night by any of the group to which the deceased belonged;
it is successively taken up by other members of the party until all
voices are united in a resounding chorus of inarticulate moans,
wails, shriller cries, and wild howls, likened by the auditors to the
blood-bellowing of cattle; if other groups of the tribesmen are within
hearing, they, too, take up the cry, so that the lamentation may extend
to the entire tribe and echo throughout practically all Seriland at the
same moment. The fierce howling and attendant excitement may rise so
high in the group in which the wailing begins that all seem bereft of
customary caution; and sometimes they suddenly seize ollas and weapons,
and decamp incontinently, perhaps scattering widely and racing for
miles before settling again for sleep or watchful guard.
* * * * *
The ideas of the folk concerning death and concerning the relations
between the living and the dead are largely esoteric, and are,
moreover, veiled by the nonequivalence of Seri expressions with the
terms of alien languages.
At least an inchoate belief in a life beyond the grave was intimated
by Mashém and his companions at Costa Rica, and their circumspection
of speech and mien indicated a strong veneration for, or dread of,
the manes; though the specific expressions were connected with
deceased matrons, who alone seemed to be prominent in the minds of the
clanmates. So far as could be gathered the belief seems to be that the
dead find their way back to the primordial underworld, whence Earth and
Beings were brought up by Pelican and Turtle (or Shark) respectively,
and are liable to return by night with mischievous intent.
The direct expressions of the Seri informants are fully corroborated by
the association of things in interior Seriland. The burial of water and
food, of the personal fetishes and votive objects, and of the highly
prized face-paint belonging to the dead matron, attests anticipation
of a post-mortuary journey; while the temporary abandonment of jacales
and rancherias and the nocturnal fears and flights alike betoken dread
of sepulchral visitants. The most suggestive of the associations, i.
e., between the scatophagic stores and the sepulchers, awaits full
explanation.
SERIAL PLACE OF SERI SOCIALRY
In the conventional seriation of social development four stages
are clearly recognizable, viz.: (1) Savagery, in which the social
organization is based on blood kinship reckoned in the female line;
(2) barbarism, in which the basis of organization is actual or assumed
consanguinity reckoned in the male line; (3) civilization, in which
the laws are based on property-right, primarily territorial; and (4)
enlightenment, in which the organization is constitutional and rests
on the recognition of equal human rights to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Now, in terms of this seriation of general
culture-stages, the place of the Seri tribe is clear. Reckoning
consanguinity wholly in the maternal line, as they do, they belong in
the initial stage of savagery. Accordingly they pertain to the lower
or more primitive of the two great stages represented by the American
aborigines.
A still more refined seriation may be effected through conspection of
the several lines of activital development—the esthetic and industrial,
and especially the sophic or fiducial, as well as the strictly social;
for these lines are most intimately intertwined. Thus, in the Old
World, the transition from maternal to patriarchal organization
was accompanied, and evidently superinduced, by the development of
zooculture into extensive herding; in different districts of the New
World, a parallel transition attended the development of agriculture
to a phase involving the protection of acequias and fields by armed
men; while throughout primitive life, laws are formulated and enforced
chiefly through appeals to the superphysical or mythologic. Now,
review of the Seri esthetic indicates that the decorative concepts and
activities are in large measure inchoate and are practically confined
to a single manifestation, i. e., the delineation of totemic symbols
primarily denoting zoic tutelaries and incidentally connoting the
blood-carriers of clans consecrated to these beast-gods; so that the
esthetic motives and devices of the tribe are essentially zoosematic.
In like manner a considerable part of the technic of the tribe is
zoomimic, as already shown, while even the most highly developed
industrial activities occupy the biotic borderland of mechanical
chance rather than the characteristic demotic realm of intellectual
design. So, too, the faith of the folk is exclusively and overweeningly
zootheistic, to the extent that every motion, every thought, every
organized action, every law, every ceremony, is shaped with reference
to mystical potencies vaguely conceived as a pantheon of maleficent
beast-gods; and it is this dark and hopeless faith that gives character
to the tribal esthetic and technic. Concordantly the faith finds
reflection in the very elements of the social organization; the matron
is the blood-carrier and the lawgiver not in and for herself but as
the vicarious and visible exponent of an ever-immanent beast-god—the
clan tutelary; her appeals to her brothers for administrative aid are
precisely parallel to her intuitive passage from zoomimicry into the
field of mechanical chance defined by protolithic implements; and the
appeal, like the execution of the law either by herself or by her
brothers, is controlled and regulated in absolute deference to the zoic
pantheon. Thus, the inchoate tribal laws, expressed in habitual lines
of action and modes of thought, are by no means conscious products of
human wisdom, but are confidently imputed to a superhuman wisdom on the
part of myth-magnified beasts of a mystical olden time; and, similarly,
the power of executing these laws is by no means cognized as conscious
human faculty, but is faithfully imputed to supernal potencies of
mythical monsters. Essentially, therefore, the tribal law is putatively
_zoocratic_; and the social organization may justly be classed as a
putative _zoocracy_.
To prevent possible confusion, it may be desirable to note specifically
that the Seri government is not matriarchal in any proper sense. As
pointed out elsewhere, matriarchy is not (at least among the American
aborigines) an antecedent of patriarchy, but a correlative of that form
of government; and it would be especially erroneous and misleading
to designate as matriarchal a tribe like the Seri, whose chiefs and
subchiefs (i. e., appellate clan-administratives) are invariably
masculine. Neither would it be just, despite the dominance of matrons
in legislative and judicative matters, to regard the tribal government
as a gyneocracy, such as have been noted in various parts of North
America—e. g., in Sonora, according to a current tradition as to the
origin of the name of the province, and among the Pomo Indians of
California, according to Cronise as interpreted by Powers;[331] for
the actual control is exercised by the warrior brothers, while the
ideal control is vested in that zoic pantheon of which the matrons are
putative mouthpieces. Physically and practically the Seri government
is an adelphiarchy, as already indicated; but in the minds of the
tribesmen themselves it is an inchoate theocracy putatively headed by
a pantheon of animate monsters, whose prelates are personified in the
painted clanmothers.
[331] Tribes of California, pp. 160-161.
* * * * *
Summarily, then, the Seri are zoosematic in esthetic, zoomimic in
technic, zootheistic in faith, and putatively zoocratic in government,
while even the Seri tongue is so largely mimetic or onomatopoetic in
form as to accord with the industries and institutions; and in view
of the intimate interrelations between the several lines of activity,
it would seem preferable to determine the culture-status from the
coincident testimony of all the lines, but feasible to measure it in
terms of any one or more of these activital lines.
Now, on comparing the characteristics of the Seri with those of other
known tribes of North America, many resemblances and a few differences
are found; and practically all of the more conspicuous differences
extend in the same direction—i. e., they combine to indicate an
exceptionally primitive, or lowly, or zoic, plane for the simple
savages of Seriland. Thus, few tribes are so poor in esthetic as the
Seri, and in none other are the esthetic devices so clearly and so
exclusively zoic; few if any other known tribes so clearly exemplify
zoomimic culture; none other so well represents protolithic culture,
and no other known tribe is so completely devoid of mechanical devices
reflecting higher culture; in general socialry no other known tribe
better, or indeed so well, exemplifies zoocracy, while in such special
features as those of ethnogamic mating, ceremonial scatophagy, and
mortuary magnification of the blood-carriers, the folk mark the most
primitive known phase of cultural advancement; and although language
and faith yield less definite measure, their testimony is coincident
with that of the other lines of activity. Accordingly the Seri must
be assigned to the initial place in the scale of cultural development
represented by the American aborigines, and hence to the lowest
recognized phase of savagery.
* * * * *
Two or three corollaries of this placement are noteworthy: (1) In
most of the researches concerning human development conducted by the
anthropologists of the world, attention has been given chiefly or
wholly to the somatic or biotic characters of _Homo sapiens_; but
while various physical features of the Seri suggest bestial affinities
(as has been pointed out in an earlier chapter), it is especially
significant that the nearest and clearest indications of bestial
relationship are found in the psychical features of the lowly folk—for
zoic faith in its multifarious manifestations is but a reflection of
burgeoning yet still bestial mind.
(2) While human independence of environment culminates in socialry, the
interdependence of activital lines so well revealed in lowest savagery
demonstrates that institutions and all government necessarily reflect
environment; and, at the same time, that the progressive emancipation
from environment signalized in the higher culture-grades measures the
conquest of Nature through industrial activity—for both the productive
work and the attendant exercise cumulatively elevate sapient Man above
mindless Nature.
(3) An adjunct of progress in every stage of development, as indicated
with especial clearness in the earliest stages, is the annulment or
curtailment of both physical and formal law, and the substitution of
cumulatively growing volition: the development of the esthetic passes
from the intuitive toward the ratiocinative, that of the industrial
from the instinctive toward the inventive, and that of the social from
the merely reflective to the vigorously constructive; with every pulse
of progress the subservience to blind chance and imaginative figment
diminishes; and with each increment of sound confidence the ability to
surmount physical obstruction and to dispense with primitive formality
is cumulatively augmented.
LANGUAGE
The bases for definite knowledge of the Seri tongue are the five
vocabularies described on other pages (13, 95, 97, 102, and 107).
The earliest of these vocabularies, comprising eleven terms, was
collected in Hermosillo in 1850 by Señor Lavandera, presumably from the
tribal outlaw Kolusio, and transmitted to Señor Ramirez for discussion.
This pioneer vocabulary is superseded by those of later date.
The second Seri word-collection was made by Commissioner Bartlett at
Hermosillo in 1852; it was obtained from Kolusio, and comprises some
two hundred words.
The third vocabulary was obtained at Hermosillo during or about 1860,
doubtless from Kolusio, by Señor Tenochio; it comprises about one
hundred terms; it was discussed and published by Señor Pimentel, and
served as a basis for the first scientific classification of the tribe
and their collinguals.
The fourth Seri vocabulary was that obtained by M Pinart at Hermosillo
in 1879, almost certainly from Kolusio; it comprises over six hundred
words, with a few short phrases.
The latest word-collection is the Bureau (or McGee) vocabulary,
obtained on the Seri frontier in 1894 through Mashém, subchief of
the tribe; it comprises some three hundred vocables with a few short
phrases, accompanied by explanatory notes.
The several collections are entirely independent: Lavandera’s record
was made in Spanish, at the request of Ramirez; Bartlett was not aware
of the earlier record, and wrote in English; Tenochio knew nothing of
Bartlett’s work, was probably not aware of Lavandera’s, and wrote in
Spanish; Pinart, though French in blood and mother-tongue, was fully
conversant with Spanish, in which his record was made, and apparently
knew nothing of the earlier vocabularies; while the Bureau recorder had
not seen any of the earlier records and had shadowy knowledge of the
existence of two of them only at the time of making his own.
Naturally the several vocabularies overlap to a considerable extent,
and thus afford means of verification. Those of Bartlett, Tenochio, and
Pinart, all obtained from the same informant, are notably consistent,
despite the diversity in language on the part of the recorders; and
their correspondence with the Bureau vocabulary is hardly less close
(except for the comparative absence of terms for alien concepts in the
latter record) than their agreement among each other. Accordingly, the
linguistic collections, although far less full than would be desirable,
are fairly satisfactory so far as vocables are concerned; but unhappily
the few short phrases in the Pinart and Bureau collections are quite
too meager to elucidate the grammatic structure of the language.
The aggregate number of vocables in the several records is some seven
hundred. Of these over 97 per cent are apparently distinctive,
presenting no resemblance whatever to any other known tongue. The
remaining eighteen or twenty terms reveal resemblances to Aryan, Piman,
Cochimi, or other alien languages; but of these the majority express
Caucasian concepts, familiar enough to the outlaw informant, Kolusio,
though generally unfamiliar to Mashém and to other actual inhabitants
of Seriland.
A critical census brings out six vocables presenting phonetic
correspondences with those of one or more Yuman dialects, viz., the
terms for tongue, tooth, eye, head, blood, and wood or tree. Now,
examination of these terms indicates that the first two probably, and
the third and fourth possibly, are associative demonstratives rather
of mechanical than of vocalic character—e. g., the terms for tooth and
tongue are merely directive sounds accompanying the exhibition of the
organs, so that while the terms may not be onomatopoetic in ordinary
sense, they are instinctively mimetic or directive, in such wise as to
indicate that they may well have arisen spontaneously and independently
among different primitive peoples; also that they might easily pass
from tribe to tribe as an adjunct of gesture-speech. The term for blood
is still more decidedly mimetic of the sound of the vital fluid gashing
from a severed artery, or of normal pulsation, so that it, too, must be
classed as a term of spontaneous development. The Seri term for wood or
tree has an apparent analogue, with somewhat different meaning, in the
Cochimi alone; but since the knifeless Seri made practically no use of
wood in their aboriginal condition, and since the early Jesuit records
show that they sometimes transnavigated the gulf and came in contact
with the wood-using Cochimi, it seems fair to assume that material and
word were borrowed together. A similar suggestion arises in connection
with the term for dog; although the Seri have lived from time
immemorial in that initial stage of cotoleration with the coyote in
which the adult animals are permitted to scavenger the rancherias, they
were without domestic dogs until these animals were introduced into
northwestern Mexico by the Spaniards, when they apparently absorbed
the animal and its name at once from their eastern neighbors of the
Piman stock—presumably the Opata, or possibly the Papago, with both of
whom the Seri converts and spies were in frequent contact during the
Jesuits’ régime at Opodepe, Populo, and Pitic.
In weighing the linguistic relations, it is to be remembered that
the Seri are distinctive in practically every somatic and demotic
character, that they are bitterly antipathetic to aliens, and that
their race-sense is perhaps the strongest known. It is also to be
remembered that they are zoosematic in esthetic, largely zoomimic in
their primitive industries, putatively zoocratic in government, and
overweeningly zootheistic in belief; that nearly all observers and
recorders of their characteristics have been impressed by both the
distinctiveness and the primitiveness of their speech; that this speech
abounds in associative demonstratives and instinctive onomatopes to
exceptional degree; that they class themselves as much more nearly
akin to their bestial associates than to any alien tribe or people;
and hence that their speech is necessarily zooglossic in considerable,
if not unequaled, measure. It is to be remembered, too, that the law
of activital coincidences finds fullest exemplification in lowest
culture, as has been already shown, and as the zooglossic character
of the Seri speech would imply; so that a considerable proportion of
fortuitous resemblances might be anticipated. Finally, it is to be
remembered that despite the extreme provinciality connected with their
unparalleled race-sense, the folk have been in known contact with
Caucasian and Amerind aliens for nearly four centuries, and have been
steadily, albeit with exceeding slowness, absorbing alien activities
and activital products.
In the light of the history and condition of the Seri, a summary of
their vocabulary is of much interest. It is as follows:
Known vocables 700±
Distinctive terms 682±
Terms shared with other tongues 18±
Terms connoting Caucasian concepts 11±
Onomatopes and associative demonstratives 5±
Term shared with the Cochimi 1
Term borrowed from the Piman 1
Total 18±
Total 700±
On weighing this tabulation, in which no allowance is made for
coincidences, it becomes evident that the Seri tongue is essentially
discrete. The tabulation, accordingly, justifies and establishes the
classifications of Pimentel and Orozco y Berra, under which the Seri,
with their collinguals, are erected into a distinct linguistic stock.
* * * * *
Pending further research and the completion of the linguistic
collections, it is deemed inexpedient to publish the Seri vocabulary
in full, though the material has been compared, analyzed, and arranged
systematically as was practicable by Mr J. N. B. Hewitt; and his
comparative tables and discussions, which comprise all the terms
suggesting affinity with Yuman and other aboriginal languages, are
appended. His morphologic analyses and comparisons are especially
noteworthy in that they demonstrate that the Seri language is
essentially different in structural relations—or in its genius—from the
Yuman tongues of neighboring territory.
COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY
[By J. N. B. HEWITT]
_Serian Material_
A. Seri vocabulary, McGee, W J, entered in Powell’s Introduction to
the Study of Indian Languages, second edition, in November, 1894.
B. Seri vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (180 terms),
January 1, 1852.
C. Seri vocabulary, Pinart, A. L., MS. (16½ pp.), April, 1879.
D. Seri vocabulary, Tenochio, D. A., copied by Pimentel, Lenguas
Indígenas de México, t. II, Mexico, 1875.
_Yuman Material_
I. Cochimi vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms),
April, 1867.
II. Cochimi vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (200 terms),
English and Spanish, subsequent to June, 1852.
III. Cochimi terms in Clavijero, F. J., Historia de la Antigua ó Baja
California, 1852.
IV. Cochimi vocabulary and texts in Buschmann, J. C. E., Die Spuren
der Aztekischen Sprache, Berlin, 1859.
1. Avesupai vocabulary, Stevenson, Mrs T. E., MS., Oct., 1885.
2. Tonto vocabulary, White, J. B., and Loew, Oscar, MS., 1873-1875.
3. Cocopa vocabulary, Heintzelman, S. P., and Peabody, E. T., printed
blank (180 terms).
4. Maricopa vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (180 terms).
5. Maricopa vocabulary, Ten Kate, Dr Herman, MS., May, 1888.
6. Mohave vocabulary, Loew, Oscar, printed in Report on United States
Geological Surveys west of the One-Hundredth Meridian, Lieut.
G. M. Wheeler in charge, vol. VII.
7. Mohave vocabulary, Mowry, Sylvester, and Gibbs, Geo., printed blank
(180 terms), 1863.
8. Hummockhave vocabulary, Heintzelman, S. P., printed blank (180
terms).
9. Mohave vocabulary, Corbusier, W. H., entered in Powell’s
Introduction, second edition, in 1885.
10. Hualapai vocabulary, Loew, Oscar, in Report on United States
Geological Surveys west of the One-Hundredth Meridian, Lieut.
G. M. Wheeler in charge, vol. VII.
11. Hualapai vocabulary, Renshawe, J. H., and Gilbert, G. K., entered
in Powell’s Introduction, first edition, 2 copies, in 1878.
12. Kutchan vocabulary, Whipple, in Schoolcraft, Historical and
Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition,
and Prospects of the Indians of the United States, pt. II,
118-121.
13. Kutchan vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms), 1867.
14. Diegueño vocabulary, Loew, Oscar, in Report on United States
Geological Surveys west of the One-Hundredth Meridian, Lieut.
G. M. Wheeler in charge, vol. VII.
15. Diegueño vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (180 terms).
16. Diegueño vocabulary, Mowry, Sylvester, printed blank (180 terms),
1856.
17. H’taäm vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms), 1867.
18. Yavapai vocabulary, Corbusier, W. H., entered in Powell’s
Introduction, first edition, in 1873-1875.
19. Yavapai vocabulary, Gatschet, A. S., MS., 1883.
20. M’mat vocabulary, Helmsing, J. S., printed blank (211 terms),
1876.
21. Santa Catalina vocabulary, Henshaw, H. W., entered in Powell’s
Introduction, second edition, in 1884.
22. Tulkepaya vocabulary, Ten Kate, Herman, in Gatschet, Der
Yuma-Sprachstamm, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Band XVIII, 1886.
23. Kiliwee vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms), 1867.
24. Diegueño vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R. (Los Angeles), printed blank
(180 terms).
24a. Diegueño vocabulary, Henshaw, H. W., entered in Powell’s
Introduction, second edition, in 1884.
25. Santa Isabella vocabulary, } Henshaw, H. W., entered in Powell’s
26. Hawi Rancheria vocabulary, } Introduction, second edition,
27. Mesa Grande vocabulary, } in 1893.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
The members of a group of languages called Yuman are spoken in a region
comprising a part of the peninsula of Lower California, the southern
extreme of California, and the western portion of Arizona. In this
group of languages ethnologists have hitherto included that spoken
by the Seri Indians and their congeners. But the inclusion of this
language rests apparently upon evidence drawn from data insufficient
in extent and largely imperfect and doubtful in character. In the
following pages this evidence is examined, and the conclusion is
reached that it does not warrant the inclusion of the Seri tongue in
the Yuman group. The same is true with regard to the Waïkuri (Guaicuri)
language, which has been erroneously, it would seem, included in the
Yuman stock; for, judging from present available data, it should remain
independent until further research shall decide whether it constitutes
a stock in itself or belongs to some other stock.
Moreover, it appears that the principle has been disregarded which
requires that, in making lexic comparisons to determine the fact
and degree of relationship between one language and another, those
vocables having admittedly a common linguistic tradition be carefully
and systematically studied before they are juxtaposed to those other
terms whose kinship with them is still matter for ascertainment. So
comparative lists have been prepared in accordance with this principle.
Now, one of the most important things revealed by the study of language
is that the course of anthropic linguistic development has been from
the use of polysematic demonstratives, or what are called pronominative
elements by Professor McGee, toward the evolution and differentiation
of parts of speech. These vocables, which occur in all languages, are
of prime importance in linguistic research because they are chiefly
vestigial in character. Presumptively embodying the indefinite
thought-clusters of the anthropoid stage in glottic evolution, they
project into the speech of the present (the anthropic stage) an outline
or epitome of that earlier pronominative plane of thought and speech
development. These pronominative elements represent a complex of ideas,
comprising person, place, direction, number, time, mode, gender, sex,
and case (or relation). In the Iroquoian tongue the pronominative
prefix _ra-_, “he”, signifies “one person of the anthropic gender, male
sex, singular number, nominative case, there, now”. Professor McGee in
The “Beginnings of Mathematics,” speaking of the paramount egoistic
basis of the thought of primitive men, well says: “They act and think
in terms of a dominant personality, always reducible to the Ego, and an
Ego drawn so large as to stand for person, place, time, mode of action,
and perhaps for raison d’être—it is Self, Here, Now, Thus, and Because.”
Now, there are in nature actions, bodies, properties, and qualities
requiring definite expression to give clearness and concision to
speech, and this need gradually led to the development and use of
conceptual expressions resulting in gradual restriction of the
multiplication of, and diminution in the number of, pronominative
elements. Speech became specific rather than monophrastic and
indefinite, and sought to express individual concepts by terms of
definite meaning rather than by phrases involving a plurality of
concepts and indefiniteness. The monophrasm or pronominative element
expressive of several individual ideas is resolved not by a division
of the body of the element, but rather by the addition of elements
denotive (though primarily connotive) of action, which had been
previously wholly or in part symbolized by the pronominative element,
or in part inferred from the situation.
Thus it may be seen that these pronominative elements, miscalled
pronouns, are not substitutes for nouns, but that the converse
statement is the truer one. These elements have been classed together
as forming a part of speech in the same category with the noun and the
verb; but it has been seen that the pronominative is not at all a part
of speech, involving semantically within itself the distinct concepts
of several so-called parts of speech. To make this plain, take from
the highly differentiated English tongue the following sentences: “_I_
will give _you_ to _her_. _What_ can _it_ be? The elk is one of the
most timid animals _that_ walk.” In the first, _I_, _you_, and _her_
respectively show the relation of the three persons indicated, not only
to the act of giving but also to the act of speaking, a function that
does not belong to nouns; without change of form they express what
is called person, number, case, and sex. And it would be extremely
difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to supply the nouns for which
_what_ in the second and _that_ in the third are substitutes; for in
the last, not even a noun and a conjunction will answer. Such in part
are the concepts for which the pronominative elements stand and which
give them such great vitality.
Along with these pronominative elements go the numerals, which were
primarily the products of a process of cancellation of common factors
from original expressions connoting the required number; and so when
once the abbreviated expressions became usual there was no disposition
to displace them, and increasing use making them more definite,
rendered them more and more permanent. This in brief is the chief cause
of the obstinate persistency of numerals in all known languages. An
examination of the accompanying lists of number-names will greatly
aid in understanding what is meant. The late Professor Whitney, when
discussing these elements in the Aryan or Indo-European family, uses
the following instructive language:
“When, however, we seek for words which are clearly and palpably
identical in all or nearly all the branches of the family, we have to
resort to certain special classes, as the numerals and the pronouns.
The reason of this it is not difficult to point out. For a large
portion of the objects, acts, and states, of the names for which
our languages are composed, it is comparatively easy to find new
designations. They offer numerous salient points for the names-giving
faculty to seize upon; the characteristic qualities, the analogies
with other things, which suggest and call forth synonymous or nearly
synonymous titles, are many. * * * But for the numerals and the
pronouns our languages have never shown any disposition to create a
synonymy. It was, as we may truly say, no easy task for the linguistic
faculty to arrive at a suitable sign for the ideas they convey; and
when the sign was once found, it maintained itself thenceforth in
use everywhere, without danger of replacement by any other of later
coinage. Hence, all the Indo-European nations, however widely they may
be separated and however discordant in manners and civilization, count
with the same words and use the same personal pronouns in individual
address—the same, with the exception, of course, of the changes which
phonetic corruption has wrought upon their forms.”[332]
[332] Language and the Study of Language, New York, 1874, pp. 194-195.
And it is on account of the great vitality and persistency of these two
groups of vocables that the pronominative elements and the numerals
have been given first place in the comparison between the Seri and the
Yuman tongues to determine relationship or want of relationship between
the two languages.
COMPARATIVE LISTS OF SERIAN AND YUMAN PRONOUNS
In the pronominal lists the eight pronominatives I, we, thou, ye,
he, they, that, and this are compared. The comparison reveals no
satisfactory evidence of relationship between the two tongues
represented therein. In the list headed “Thou”, there is, it is true, a
vague resemblance between some of the examples cited; but this is the
extent of the agreement among the pronominative elements.
Along with these pronominal lists comparative tables of fifty
conceptual terms have also been made. The vocables have been subjected
to a discriminating analysis which fails to show any trustworthy
evidence of genetic relationship between the Seri and the Yuman
languages. These tables will be found at the end of the numeral lists.
The comparative pronominal lists follow:
SERIAN
_I_ _We_ _Thou_ _Ye_
B. ive óve me move
C. eve, ivve ove me movve
D. ibe, i, in
YUMAN
I. ya e-é ba me-é
II. bu kélballa mu mugutí
2. nyaa mági maa yamakámvi
4. n’yep b’dowwaánge man n’yátches
5. enyip mateshehámk mainye hanyís
7. inyeeippa mahinye
8. ainyapi ainyepi howanye inak
9. inyétc inyétcabĭtc mantc mantcawitc
6. iniepa huatcva manya
10. anyáa maa
12. n’yat mantz
13. nyet nyetchelechaml manya koonyemitch
14. inyau ikhin nyau vuyau-khumau
24. n’ya n’yawaâp ma n’yawaâp
16. enyahpah n’yeahpah mahpah
17. nyat nawot mat manyawapa
19. nyät, nía mät mad
20. n’ñép mañ mandchequedíc
22. nyá nyaä´ mätche
23. nyapa panyapa m’apa pamaba
15. n’yàpa n’yawa m’apa m’awa
SERIAN
_He_ _They_ _That_ _This_
B. imk’ move (for imkove) imke ipké
C. imki imkove imki
D. itam itam
YUMAN
I. kwumba k’hu
II. ugutá ugultí ugutá yamú
2. ma bémi, maniûsi owá bémi, n’wagi
4. v’dán awatches abányim b’dan
5. sewaínye hanyís wedaín sewaín
6. huványa hoványe vitanya
7. mánya paichsama kuucha, “What n’yaveoh
do you say?”
8. howanméeme nayew howai howanmiimi
9. huvatce iuyéteawĭntc nyanya viçanya
10. nyuée viyáa
12. habuitzk
13. abilkoowan sakewauk nyasl badam
14. i[=tc]ham kitchámuyú pú piyáa
15. pu pu-wîiptch pu-witch p’yà
16. memuchu nepte
17. nyip nyeep kooacha mop
19. net íet, iät iät, íet
20. abáñ s’tubáñ s’tubáñ cezáñ, vedáñ
22. yetháha nihátchewa
23. ẖápa pachawit nyepat miẖi
24. maîs mawápa púaisis piyaís
VOCABULARY LISTS OF SERIAN NUMERALS
The following comparative table of Serial numerals represents all
the accessible number-names in existing records of Serian linguistic
material. M Pinart records two lists of number-names from “one” to
“ten”, and says of the first list, “Quando se cuenta seguido”, _for
counting consecutively_.
It will be of interest to note the fact that the forms of the digit
“eight”, in the vocabularies of Professor McGee and Mr Bartlett, with
the latter’s “eighteen”, differ wholly from the elements representing
“eight” in their terms for “eighty”. The term employed by them is
recorded by M Pinart in his second list and also by Sr Pimentel.
Another peculiarity to be noted in the vocabulary of Mr Bartlett is
the fact that for the numbers “thirteen” and “eighteen” he writes the
same form. The latter is evidently miswritten, as the two are composed
of identical elements. The explanation of this seems to be that in the
former there is a subaudition of the element “ten”, and in the latter
of the element “fifteen”.
It is equally instructive to mark the fact that the terms denoting
“two, three, four, five” retain or preserve their fuller forms in their
multiples, as in “twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty”.
The lists follow:
_McGee_ _Pinart_ _Bartlett_ _Pimentel_ (_citing
Tenochio_)
1. tó‘χun tokχom tashsho tohom taso, tujon
2. ghá‘kom kaχ´kum kookχ´ kahom kokjl, kujom
3. pháum p’χ´ao kapχ´a phraom kupjtku
4. sâ´hkūm shoχ´kum kshuχ´kŭă scochhom {kosojkl
{kosojhl
5. kwáetūm kuaotom kooχtom huavat’hom kouton
6. náhpsūk napshoχ´ imapkasho napk’schoch snapkashroj
7. káhkwūū kaχkχue tomkaχkue kachqhue tomkujkcui
8. páhkwūū p’χakχue kshoχolka phraque osrojoskum
9. ksókhŭnt soχanthe ksovikanlχ´ sohántl ksobbejoaul
10. khóhnŭtˡ χonalχ´ kanlχ´ honachtl taul
11. tantasóque
12. tanchltoque
13. tanchtaphraqhue
14. [tanchltascochhom][333]
15. tanchlhuavat’hom
16. tanchlischnapk’schoch
17. tanchltumkachqhue
18. tanchlphraqhue
19. tanchlsóvihantlqhue
20. ŭntçkō´k kanlχ´kookχ´ eanslkoch taul jaukl
30. ŭntçkō´pka eans’lkapka
40. ŭntçksō´k eans’lscoch
50. ŭntçkóitum eanslkovat’hom
60. ŭntçěsnŭpkŭ´schōp eansly’schnapk’schoch
70. ŭntçtŭngŭ`kwŭ´k eansltumkachqhue
80. ŭ´ntçkuschohotkŭm eanslhschoholchkom
90. ŭntçksegŭnt eanslsovikakt’l
100. ŭntçgŭntˡ hiantlkantl taul taul
200. ŭnz-ŭ´ntç-kō´k
300. ŭnz-ŭntç-kŏ´pka
400. ŭnz-ŭntç-kŭkschō´k
500. ŭnz-ŭntç-kóitum
600. ŭnz-ŭntç-ŭsnŭpkŭ´schos
700. ŭnz-ŭntç-diŭnkwŭŭk
1000. ŭnz-untç kŭ´nz
[333] This form was not recorded by the collector, but has been formed
by analogy by the writer.
VOCABULARY LISTS OF YUMAN NUMERALS
_Kiliwee_ (23) _Cochimi_ (I) _Cochimi_ (III) _Cochimi_ (IVa) _Laymon_ (IVb)
1. mesig 1. chaqui 1. tepeeg 1. tejueg 1. tejoe
(in 5
tejuep)
dujvenidi,
dujuenidi
2. ẖooak 2. kooak 2. goguó 2. goguò 2. gowac, kawam,
kamoe=”the
other”
3. ẖamiak 3. kabiak 3. combió 3. kombio, 3. kamioec
kambiec,
combiec,
cambiec
4. mnok= 4. ic̲h̲kyum- 4. magacubuguá 4. magacubuguà 4. nauwi
“(fingers) kooak
down”
5. sol chepam 5. nyaki- 5. naganná 5. naganna- 5. hwipey
vampai tejueg tejuep=“one
ignimel= hand”
“una mano
entera”[334]
6. m’sig- 6. ic̲h̲kyum- 6. kamioec
eleepai kabiak kawam=
“two three”
[334] “De este número en adelante los mas incultos se confunden y no
saben decir mas que: muchos y muchísimos; pero los que tienen algun
ingenio siguen la numeracion diciendo: una mano y uno, una mano y dos,
etc. Para espresar diez, dicen: _Naganná ignimbal demuejueg_, esto es,
todas las manos: para quince dicen las manos y un pié, y para veinte
las manos y los piés, cuyo número es el término de la aritmética
cochimí. Los que han aprendido el español saben nuestro modo de contar.”
“From this number onward the most ignorant are confused and are only
able to say many and very many; but those who have some ingenuity
continue the numeration by saying one hand and one, one hand and
two, etc. To express ten they say, _naganná ignimbal demuejueg_,
that is, all the hands; for fifteen they say the hands and a foot,
and for twenty the hands and the feet, at which number ends the
Cochimi arithmetic. Those who have learned Spanish know our method of
counting.” (Clavigero, Historia, etc., p. 22.)
In this citation Padre Clavigero succinctly portrays the cumbersome
number series of the Cochimi and other Amerinds of the Californian
peninsula. Moreover, the Cochimi terms of Clavijero and those cited
from Hervas by Herr Buschmann seemingly suggest a common source of
information.
Ducrue (in Murr, Journal zur Kunstgeschichte, Nürnberg, 1787, vol. XII,
pp. 294) expresses doubt as to the _nauwi_ of the Laymon column, not
knowing whether it is Nahuatlan or vernacular to the Laymon language.
It certainly has an alien aspect. Of Laymonic number names Ducrue
says that the Laymon can count singly to five, and then they repeat
themselves.
The following citation may be of interest here:
“The Californians know very little of arithmetic, some of them being
unable to count further than _six_, while others can not number beyond
_three_, insomuch that none of them can say how many fingers he has.
They do not possess anything that is worth counting, and hence their
indifference. It is all the same to them whether the year has six or
twelve months, and the month three or thirty days, for every day is a
holiday with them. They care not whether they have one or two or twelve
children, or none at all, since twelve cause them no more expense or
trouble than one, and the inheritance is not lessened by a plurality of
heirs. Any number beyond six they express in their language by _much_,
leaving it to their confessor to make out whether that number amounts
to seven, seventy, or seven hundred.”—Jacob Baegert, in Smithsonian
Report, 1864, p. 388.
7. ẖooak- 7. chaquera-
eleepai vampai
8. ẖamiak- 8. nyaki-
eleepai vam-ivapai
9. m’sigk- 9. quac̲h̲eravampai
tkmat
10. chepam- 10. nyavanichaqui; 10. naganna-
mesig “no contamos mas iñimbal-
adelante.” demuejeg=
“all the
fingers”
11. mesigk-malha.
12. ẖooak-malha
15. naganna-
iñimbal-
demuejeg
agannapa=“all
fingers, foot”
20. chepamẖooak 20. naganna
agannapa-inimbal-
demuejeg=fingers,
toes, all”
30. chepamẖoomiak
40. chepam-misnok
50. mesig quinquedit-
sol-chepam
60. chepammesig
quinqueditmesigelepaip
70. chepam mesig
quinquedit
ẖooak-elepaip,
etc.
_Mohave_ (6) _Hualapai_ (10) _Tonto_ or _Gohun_ (2) _Diegueño_ (14)
1. aséentik sitik sisi, shiti khink
2. havik hovak uake óak
3. hamok hamok moke hamok
4. tchungbabk hobá hôba tchibabk
5. harabk hatábuk satabé selkhakai
6. siyinta tasbek geshbé niugushbai
7. viiga hoágeshbek hoageshbe niokhoak
8. muugá hamúgeshbek mogeshbe niokhamuk
9. paaya halathúig halseye nitchibab
10. aráabá vuáruk uave selghiamát
11. aséentik nitauk sitigiálaga uave-shiti niekhin
12. havik nitauk hovaktiálik uave-uake niekhvabgushbaib
20. ará-bavik- vavahovak uake-uave selghhoák
takavuts havík
30. arábavik- vavahamok moke-uave
takavuts-hamók
40. hōba-uave
50. satabe-uave
Comparative Lists of Serian and Yuman Numerals
ONE
_Serian_
A. tó`χun, stem _to`χ-_
B. tohom, stem _toh-_, or _toχ-_
C. tokχom, stem _tokχ-_, tashsho, stem _tash-_
D. taso, stem _tas-_, tujon, stem _tuχ-_, “first”
_Yuman_
I. chaqui, _chaχ´-_, or _χaχ´-_
II. dopí
24. h’in
25. h`in, ě`hĭnk`
14. khink
23. mesig, _-sig_ (?)
7. sayto
9. seto
12. aiséntic, sin
27. sin
6. aséentik
15. shen
5. shendíb
20. shéntic
4. ashentik
17. shin
16. asshin, shin
3. shitti
13. sin
26. ěssin
8. issintaich
2. sisi
19. sísi
1. sita
22. sité
18. síti
10. sitik
21. ĕsítika
11. sitta
III. tejueg, tepeeg
IV. tejoe, tejueg, tejuep, dujuenidi, dujvenidi
In examining the Serian column, it is apparent that the several forms
for the numeral “one” are homogeneous, their varying outlines being
due to the language of the collector, and especially to the alphabet
employed by him. An apparently aberrant form is the _tashsho_ (C)
and _taso_ for _tashsho_ (D). The stem of the digit is presumptively
_to`χ-_ or _tokχ-_; and _tash-_ is related to _tokχ-_ in the same
manner as _duchess_ is to _duke_ in the English tongue.
The Yuman column is more extensive than the Serian, representing as it
does several well-marked dialects. It will be seen that the Diegueño
terms for the digit “one” collected by Mr Bartlett (15) and Lieutenant
Mowry (16) are evidently from a common stem, while that recorded by Dr
Loew (14) is as clearly from a different one. But the Diegueño term
(24) obtained by Bartlett near Los Angeles is apparently a modified
form of the one obtained by Dr Loew. The two forms (25) obtained by Mr
Henshaw at Mesa Grande confirm this view. While these forms apparently
differ wholly from the remainder of the Yuman list, yet it seems safe
to connect them with the Cochimi digit (I) collected by Dr Gabb. On the
other hand, the Cochimi of Bartlett (II) introduces another term which
appears to be kin to the Laymon (III, IV). The remainder of this list
presents modified forms of a single vocable, which appears to have been
a demonstrative. Compare these with Mohave _asě´ntěnte_, “an other”,
and _sěnta_, “the other one”; also with the Yavapai _sĭ´temi_, “an
other”, and with _děspě-bĭka_, “other, the other one”.
TWO
_Serian_
A. ghá`kum, _gha`k-_
B. kahom, _kah-_ or _kaχ-_
C. kaχ´kum, _kaχk._, kookχ´, _kookχ´_
D. kokjl, _kokχ-_, kujom, _kuχ-_
_Yuman_
II. goguo
III. goguó
IV. gowac (Laymon); kawam; kamoe,=“the other”
22. guwáke
7. habeeka
4. habíck
15. habíck
20. jubíc (j as in Spanish)
6. havik
12_a._ havick
9. havíka
21. hawáka
12b. hawick
13. hawik
18. hěwáki
5. χawík
23. ẖooak
10. hovak
3. howōck
17. howok
16. ẖowuk
8. howwaich
19. huáka
1. huwaka
24. h’wach
11_a._ hwaga
25. kawŭ´k
26. kawŭ´k
14. óak
2. uake
11_b._ wága
I. kooak
The Serian examples of the digit “two” are of such phonetic character
as to warrant the inference that they are derivatives from a single
phrasm of demonstrative origin, the differences in their orthography
being due chiefly to the language and training of the collectors
and to the difference in the alphabets employed. There is evidently
phonetic and sematic relationship between the stem of this digit and
the -_kak_ in such demonstrative elements as _ish-kak,_ “here (where
I am), now, then”; _ikχ´-kaka,_ “near”; _imk-ahaka_ for _imk-kaka,_
“there where he, she, is, they are”; _akki-kak,_ “whither? to-where?
whence?“; _toχ´-kaka,_ “far, distant, far off”; and also with _iki_
in _akki-iki_, “where?”. In these examples the affix _akki-_ has an
interrogative force. The meaning of _-kak_ is that of contiguity or
proximity to the Here, the Self.
Now, the fuller Yuman list presents several forms seemingly closely
accordant, phonetically at least, with the Serian terms, but these
being merely divergent representatives of the distinctively Yuman term
which does not accord with the Serian form, are of no avail to prove
relationship. The available material pertaining to this group supplies
but scant data for ascertaining the derivation of the Yuman digit. But,
in addition to the connection of the Laymon _gowac_, with _kawam_, “the
other”, it may be that it is permissible to compare here _owá_ (2),
“that” in Tonto, the Mohave _huvá-nya_ (6), “he, that”, the Hummockhave
_howa-nméeme_ (8), “he”, and _howai_ (8), “that”, the Mohave _huva-tce_
(9), “he”, the Kutchan _habu-itzk_ (12), “he”, the Kiliwi hapa (23),
“he”, and other terms, which suggest its origin. From the foregoing
explanations, there appears to be no lexic relationship between the
Serian and the Yuman digits denoting “two”.
THREE
_Serian_
A. pháum, _phá-_
B. phraom, _phra-_ or _phχa-_
C. _p´χ´ao_, _p´χa-_, kapχ´a, _kapχ-_
D. kupjtku, _kupχ-_
_Yuman_
IV. cambiec, combiec
II. combió
III. combió
I. kabiak
IV. {kambiec, kamioec, kombiec} (Laymon)
23. ẖamiak
4. hamóck
24. hamock
15. hamôk
6. hamok
25. hamō´k
26. hamō´k
10. hamok
7. hamoka
9. hamóka
3. hamoke
12. hamóok
21. hamúka
22. hamúke
18. hěmúki
14. hamok
17. ẖomook
8. homuck
16. hummoke
1. humuga
20. jamóc (j as in Spanish)
5. χamú´k
11. (ha)moga
2. moke
19. móki
13. mook
The Serian forms of the name for the digit “three” are evidently
derivatives from a single term. This vocable appears to be _emahk_,
“one-half” (McGee), found also in the name for the middle finger
as given by both Professor McGee and M Pinart, the former writing
_ŭnulte-mŭ´ka`p_, and the latter _inol´l´emakkap_, “middle finger”. In
the Iroquoian languages also, “three” is etymologically “the middle
one”, i. e., the middle finger, a signification arising from the
primitive method of using the fingers as counters in numeration. The
middle finger is the third one counting from either side of the hand.
The form _kapχ´a_ (C) of M Pinart apparently retains almost unchanged
its primitive phonetic outline.
The Yuman list of the dialectic forms of the digit “three” is full
and is evidently composed of derivatives from a single source. This
parent stem seems to be the attributive _hami_, “tall, long”, of the
Mohave vocabulary. The form _hamiak_ signifies “it is long, tall”, and
is an appropriate name for the middle finger of the hand. The Kiliwee
_ẖamiak_, “three”, still preserves unchanged the phonetic integrity of
its component elements. These etymologies fail to develop any lexic
relationship between the Serian and the Yuman terms.
FOUR
_Serian_
A. sâ´hkŭm, _sâ´hk-_
B. scochhom, _scochh-_
C. shoχ´kum, _shoχ´-_, ksuχ´kŭă, _ksuχk-_
D. kosojkl, _kosoχk-_, kosojhl, _kosoχh-_
_Yuman_
8. chaimpap´k
12. chapóp
24. chepap
7. choompapa
13. ch´pap
17. ch´pop
4. chumpáp
15. chumpáp
16. chupop
20. chuumpáp
3. s´pap
5. styumpáp
26. tcăpáp
14. tchibabk
6. tchungbabk
9. tcimpápa
2. hôba
10. hobá
11. hoopbá
1. hópa
18. hopá
19. hópa
21. hopá
22. hupá
I. ic̲h̲kyum-kooak, (= iχ´kium-kuak)
II. maga-cubuguá
III. maga-cubuguá
23. mnox (?), “(fingers) closed, lying together”
IV. nauwi (Laymon)
The Serian examples of the digit “four” are evidently mere variants
of a common original, the derivation and signification of which the
meager linguistic material at hand seems not to supply. In no manner do
these forms accord with those of the Yuman list below, thus barring any
inference of relationship.
The Yuman list presents apparently only three different terms for
the digit “four”. Without the means of obtaining even a partially
accurate view of the historical development of such a form as the
Mohave _chaimpap´k_ (8), it is nevertheless instructive to compare
it with the Cochimi _ic̲h̲kyum-kooak_ (I), the literal meaning of
which is “two repeated”. This apparently gives a clew to both the
derivation and signification of the Mohave term. The initial _chiam_-
is seemingly a modified form of the prefix _ic̲h̲kyum_-, signifying
“repeated, again, iterated”. If this identification be correct, as
it certainly seems to be, then the final -_pap´k_ is the duplicated
form of the numeral “two”, the variants of the stem of which are as
follows: _hub-_, _hob-_, _hav-_, and _hab-_. This _chaim-_ changes
to _cha-_, _che-_, _choom-_, _chu-_, _chuum-_, _styum-_, _tcim-_,
_tchi-_, _ch’-_, _s’-_, and _tchung-_, while _pap’k_ appears as _pop_,
_pap_, and _papa_. The next stem is that of the Tonto _hôba_ (2),
which is apparently cognate with the verb _hobam_, “to set, lie down”,
like the sun and moon, referring to the fact that when the fingers
are “all lying down” the count is “four”. The following six terms are
apparently cognate with this Tonto form. The Cochimi (I) has already
been mentioned. Its final _kooak_ is the numeral “two”, and the prefix,
as explained above, signifies “repeated, again, iterated”. The next
two forms (II) and (III) are apparently composed of the iterative,
or rather additive, prefix _maga-_, “added, over”, and a form of the
Cochimi numeral “two”, _goguò_. The Kiliwi _mnok_ signifies “lying
together, closed”, as the fingers, thus approximating in sense the
Tonto _hôba_, above.
FIVE
_Serian_
A. kwáetūm, _kwáe-tūm_
B. huavat’hom, _kova-t`hom_
C. kuaotom, _kuao-tom_, kooχtom, _kooχ-tom_
D. kouton, _kou-ton_
_Yuman_
8. hairrap’k
6. harabk
22. herápe
18. hěrä´pi
10. hatábuk
11. hûtápa
2. satabé
IV. hwipey (Laymon)
II. muguacogüi
III. naganná tejueg ignimel=“one whole hand”
IV. naganna tejuep=“one hand”
I. nyakivampai
9. çarhápa
7. tharrapa
4. saráp
5. saráp
13. sarap
15. saráp
17. sarap
24. sarap
20. saaráp
16. sarrap
14. selkhakai
12. seráp
21. seräpa
19. sarápi
23. sol-chepam
3. s’rap
The several forms of the Serian numeral “five” appear to be derivatives
from a common original. There seems to be no doubt that it is a
compound expression, meaning “one full, complete (hand)”. The final
_-tūm_, _-t’hom_, _-tom_, and _-ton_ are evidently forms of _tó`χun_,
_tohom_, _tokχom_, meaning “one”, while the initial _kwáe-_, _huava-_,
(_kova-_ in “fifty”), _kooχ-_, and _kou-_ are apparently derived from
the term _kov’_, occurring in _ishshaχ´ kov’_, “full, complete moon”.
In the Yuman list, however, there are several different stems employed
to designate the digit “five”. The forms _sarap_, _seráp_, _harabk_,
and _hairrap’k_ are clearly variants of a single original. Its literal
signification, however, is not so evident, but from the data at hand
the inference is warranted that it signifies “entire, whole, complete”.
In the Mohave of Dr Corbusier _hi-sal koçar̃ápa_ signifies “the whole
hand”, and “fingers”, _koçar̃ápa_ being also written _kothar̃ápa_.
Now, _hi-sal_ means “his hand”, and _koçar̃ápa_ or _kothar̃ápa_ would
soon lose its initial _ko-_, from the wear to which it is subjected.
In _hatábuk_, _hûtápa_, and _satabé_ a new stem is to be recognized;
it signifies “to grasp”, or rather “grasps”, and is found in _aauwa
sataba_, “fire-tongs”, in which, _aauwa_ means “fire” and _sataba_
“to hold, take hold”. The reference here is to the clasped hand as
signifying the digit “five”, because in counting the fingers are bent
down upon the palm of the hand, the result being a closed or clasped
hand. Now, in _selkh-akai_ and _sol-chepam_, a form of the usual
_säl_, “hand”, occurs, and _-akai_ and _-chepam_ have presumptively
a signification semantically equivalent to _koçar̃apa_ and _sataba_
in the preceding Yuman examples, but the meagerness of the material
at hand prevents the setting forth of the data necessary to prove
this conjecture; yet it may be stated that if the term “hand” is a
constituent element of the name for the digit “five”, it is because of
the fact that the fingers and the thumb thereof are in number “five”,
so that “the entire hand, the whole hand, the complete hand”, may
become the name for the digit “five”. Hence, when the word hand is an
element of the name thereof, as it is in the present instance, it is
presumptively certain that some word like “entire, complete, whole,
clasped, bent down”, must form the other element of the compound.
The Cochimi (II) _muguacogüi_ is seemingly a combination of _mugua_
for the cognate _humuga_, “three”, and _cogüi_ for _goguó_, “two”.
And the Cochimi (I) _nyakivampai_ is a compound of _gi-nyak_, “hand”
[_mi-nyak_, foot], and some element denoting the completion of the
count of the digits of one hand, _-i-vampai_ or _vampai_. The Cochimi
(III) and (IV) are self-explanatory, _naganna_, signifying “hand”,
while Laymon (IV) is not explainable from the accessible data. These
analyses fail to show genetic relationship between the two lists, in so
far as the digit “five” is concerned.
SIX
_Serian_
A. nahpsūk
B. napk´schoch
C. napshoχ´, imapkasho
D. snapkashroj
_Yuman_
2. geshbe
3. hamhoke
13. hoomahook
17. hoomahook
15. humhôck
16. humhoke
12. humhóok
24. humhock
4. humhóque
20. joumjóc (j as in Spanish)
5. χemχúk
I. ic̲h̲kyum-kabiak
IV. kamioec kawam=2×3
8. maike-sin-kenaich
23. m´sig-eleepai
14. niu-gushbai
25. kumhōk
26. kŭmhok
7. seeinta
9. siínta
6. siyinta
18. dě-spé
10. ta-sbe-k
19. tě-shbé
21. te-shpě´-k
22. te-zpé
11. tû-spě´
1. tü-rspe
The given forms of the Serian digit “six” are evidently mere variants
of a common original, which seems quite naturally to have been composed
of the stem _-apka_ of the numeral “three”, and of both a prefix and a
suffix. The prefixes, for there are two, are, to judge from the one in
_imapkasho_, demonstrative in character. It may be compared with _im-_
in _imk´_, “he”; _imke_, “that”; _imkove_, “they”; _imki_, “that”,
in which it appears to be a directive prefix. And the initial _n-_
and _sn-_ may be cognate in origin. But the final _-sūk_, _-’schoch_,
_-shoχ´_, _-sho_, and _-shroj_, according to the audition or otosis
of the collector, must mean “repeated, doubled, again”, etc., or an
equivalent. Hence, the Seri number “six” would be literally “three
repeated”.
In the Yuman column at least eight different elements are involved
in the formation of the digit “six” in the several dialects of the
group. The digits “two” and “three” compose the larger portion of
the forms, resulting in such outlines as _hamhoke_, _hoomahook_,
_humhoke_, _humhóque_, _χemχúk_, _kumhok_. _Hamok_ (10), “three”,
is a characteristic form of this digit, and _ẖooak_ (23), _habick_
(4), and _kuáka_ (19), _óak_ (14), _uake_ (2), are characteristic
outlines of the digit “two”. Compare these two lists. The final _-k_;
of the numeral “three” is elided in composition, as it is merely a
predicative element, as has been indicated in discussing the Yuman
digit “three”; hence, _ham-_ or _hum-_, symbolizing “three”, with the
suffixion of such forms as _ẖooak, huáka_, or _uake_, “two”, readily
becomes _humnhoke_ or _hamhoke_, literally “two threes”. In such forms
as _geshbe_ (2), _despé_ (18), and _niugushbai_ (14) there occurs a
common element _-shbe_, _-spé_, or _-shbai_, which evidently signifies
“added, over, plus”, just as _-eleepai_ does in _m´sig-eleepai_ (23),
“six”, literally “one added, one more than”. The _ge-_ or _-g-_ in
(2) is evidently the final _g_ of the Kiliwi form of the numeral one,
_mesig_, _m´sig_, which may have at one time been the digit “one” in
the Tonto (2); so that _geshbe_ or _g-eshbe_ stands for an earlier
_měsig-eshbe_, “six”, literally “one added (to five)”. The term
_de-spé_ is evidently a contracted form of _siínta-spe_, “one added”,
as the other similar forms show. Compare _ta-sbe-k_ (10) and _siínta_,
(9) and _siyinta_ (6), in the last two of which the suffix is wanting
or at least overlooked by the collector. In _ic̲h̲kyum-kabiak_ (I)
the digit _kabiak_, “three”, occurs, so that _ic̲h̲kyum_, must mean
“repeated, again, iterated”, just as it was shown in the remarks on
the digit _four_. Now, the form _maike-sin-kenaich_ is, perhaps, an
ordinal and not a cardinal. The initial _maike-_ signifies “more,
over, added, plus”, the final _-kenaich_ is the doubtful part, and the
middle portion _-sin-_ is a contracted form of _sinta, siínta_, “one”,
as may be seen in the list of the Yuman forms of the digit “one”. One
other form remains to be considered. The Diegueño (14) of Dr Loew has
_niu-gu-shbai_ (the syllabication is the writer’s, showing the elements
of the combination). An examination of the digits “seven”, “eight”,
and “nine” reveals the fact that the initial _niu-_ has the value of
“added, over, plus, in addition to”, five. But it has been seen that
the ending _-shbaí_ has a like signification. The only reasonable
explanation of this anomaly is that like the Tonto (2) _g-eshbe_, it
owes its origin to the term represented by the Kiliwi _měsig_; and,
moreover, it seems to be a dialectic loan-word. If the term _geshbe_
(2) was adopted as meaning _six_, supplanting, it may be, an earlier
form like _hamhoke_, the force of analogy, to assimilate this to the
other forms, namely, of “seven”, “eight”, and “nine”, would affix
the regular dialectic prefix _niu-_ (or _nio-_). These explanations
and analyses of the diverse forms of the numeral “six” reveal no
relationship between the Serian and the Yuman groups.
SEVEN
_Serian_
A. kahkwūū
B. kachqhue
C. kaχkχue, tomkaχkue
D. tomkujkeui
_Yuman_
22. hawake-zpé
18. hěwakě-spé
10. hoáge-shbe-k
2. hoage-shbe
19. huáké-shpë
11. hwag-spě, hwagû-spě
1. waka-spe
23. ẖooak-eleepai
8. maik-kewikenaich
14. nio-khoak
20. paajkék
13. pahkae
17. pahkai
5. paχkyèk
21. pakai
24. pakai
3. pakha
16. parkai
4. patchkieque
12. pathcayé
I. chaquera-vampai
7. bee-eeka
9. víka
6. viiga
It is evident that the forms of the Serian digit “seven” are variants
from a common source, and it is equally apparent that the numeral
“two” is the basis for the term. The several examples of this numeral
are _ghá`kum_, _kahom_, _kaχ´kum_, _kookχ´_, in which the final
_-um_, or _-om_ appears to be a suffix; in the term for “twenty”
Professor MeGee writes _ŭntçkō´k_; in which the final _kō´k_ is the
term denoting “two”, and in which the final _-um_ or _-om_ is wanting,
which probably indicates that it is a flexion. Now, it is seen that
this numeral “seven” terminates in the syllable _-wūū_, _-ue_, and
_-ui_, in direct contrast with, the termination of the digit “two”.
The material at hand is too limited to determine whether this final
syllable should be _-wūū_, _-ue_, _-ui_, or _-kwūū_, _-kue_, _-kui_.
It apparently signifies “added, over, plus”, or some equivalent term.
To attain economy of utterance the term denoting “five” was omitted
from the original statement, “two added to five”, as the expression
of the number seven, and so “two added” became the name of the number
“seven”. An initial _tom_, _tum_, _tŭn_, or _diŭn_ occurs in the names
for 7, 17, 70, and 700. An evident derivative from the name for “hand”,
it denotes “five”. It is a cognate of _ŭnt_ in _ksókhŭnt_ “nine”,
literally “four-five”, and also with _tanchl_ in Mr Bartlett’s numbers
12-19; the correct form for “seven”, it would seem, should have been
_tan`l kaχkue_, etc., “five-two-added-on”; its initial _t_ is identical
with the_t_ in _t-aul_ (_t-anl_?), “ten”. The difference in the endings
of this prefix—the difference between an _m_ and an _n_—may easily be
explained. In the several vocabularies it is seen that one collector
fancied he heard an _m_ sound, while another, equally careful, heard an
_n_ sound. The fact appears to be that it is an obscure nasal sound,
which may readily be taken either for an _m_ sound or an _n_ sound by
the heteroglot. In Bartlett’s list of numerals _tan-tasó-que_ signifies
“eleven”, wherein _tasó-_ is the numeral “one”, as given by both M
Pinart and Sr Tenochio, _tan-_ the prefix under discussion, and _-que_
the suffix mentioned above, which was regarded as signifying “added,
more, plus”.
The first eight terms of the Yuman list are clearly modified forms
of a single original combination, which is apparently still retained
nearly unchanged in the Yavapai (18) of Corbusier, _hěwakě-spé_. The
signification and function of the final _-spé_ have been discussed
in the remarks on the probable derivations and meanings of the Yuman
names for “six”. The given conceptual element is evidently the term
_hěwakě-_, “two”. And _-spé_, as has been ascertained, signifying
“added, more, plus”, etc., the expression literally means “two added”,
i. e., to five, which is here understood, but unnecessary, since
“two added” has acquired the meaning “seven”, originally expressed
by the entire proposition. The Kiliwee (23) term _ẖooak-eleepai_,
“seven”, has literally the same meaning as the terms last under
discussion. It will be seen that the conceptual element is the term
_ẖooak_;, “two”, which is only another form of _hěwakě_, treated
above. Now, it is mathematically certain that if “two” be an element
of the concept “seven”, it must be _added_ to some preceding number
that will produce the result sought, and this number is of course
five. So it is presumptively certain that the element _-eleepai_ must
mean “added, laid onto, superadded, subjoined”. The Hummockhave (8)
_maik-kewik-enaich_ is composed of the conceptual element _kewik_,
“two”, the prefix _maik-_ meaning “more, over”, and the suffix
_-enaich_ (or _-kenaich_), which seems to be an ordinal or distributive
flexion. So that “two over, added”, is here likewise the expression
for the numeral “seven”. The next form, the Diegueño (14) of Dr Loew
is another example of the use of the numeral “two” with different
flexions, to express the number “seven”. An examination of this
Diegueño list of numerals shows that in such a form as _nio-khoak_,
“seven”, the initial _nio-_ is a prefix signifying “added, in addition
to”, etc., while the _khoak_ is a form of the numeral “two”. The next
ten forms, while apparently derivative from a common source, are
difficult of explanation from the material at hand. The same may be
said of the last four, three of which are evidently cognate and are
very probably shortened forms of the original represented by the first
group in the list. Take, for example, a form like (22) _hawake-zpé_,
and drop the final _-zpé_, as is done in some of the terms in the
“eight” list, and also the initial _ha-_, and the result is a form
_wake_, which in the dialects (6) and (9) would become _viiga_, _víka_,
which is the form of the digit “two” in these dialects. The form (7)
_bee-eeka_ is also merely the digit “two” of this dialect without any
index to show that it is not “two” rather than “seven”. The same thing
is to be noticed in the Serian lists, in which the form for thirteen
is in all respects the same as that for the numeral “eighteen”, both
apparently meaning merely “three added”.
EIGHT
_Serian_
A. páhkwūū
B. phraque
C. kshoχolka, p’χakχue
D. osrojoskum (osχ´oχoskum?)
_Yuman_
23. ẖamiak-eleepai
10. hamúge-shbe-k
22. hamuke-zpé
18. hěmukě-spé
18. hěmukě-spé
11. hmaga-spe
1. humuga-spe
2. moge-shbe
19. múkě-shpë
9. móka
7. moo-ooka
6. muugá
16. chip-hoke
12. chip-hóok
21. hipp-óka
3. sep-hoke
13. seepa-hook
4. sepp-óque
5. sep-χúk
15. sepp-ôck
17. shepa-hook
20. siip-jóc (j=χ)
25. tcěp-hōk
26. tcěp-hōk
8. maike-homok-enaich
14. nio-khamuk
24. pakai-hin-awach
I. nyakivamivapai
The Serian numeral “eight” is expressed by two different terms. The
first is based on the numeral three, and the second on the digit four.
The former is the remaining factor of an original expression which
signified by uttered elements “three added to five (=the full hand)”,
but the need for economy of expression led to the suppression of the
uttered element denoting “five”, as soon as the shorter “three added”
acquired the usual signification of “eight”. The basis of the digit
is _kō´pka_ or _kapχ´a_, “three”, with the suffix _-kwūū_ (_-kχue_,
_-que_), presumably denoting “added, plus”. This represents the usual
method of forming this digit. The second term, _kshoχolka_, is that
which is presumably based on the numeral “four”. This is the form
given by M Pinart. But Sr Pimentel, citing Sr Tenochio, writes this
_osrojoskum_, which at first sight appears to be quite different
from the other; yet the _r_ of the latter evidently stands for a
modified _χ_ and the _j_ for a _χ_, and making these substitutions
the term becomes _osχ´oχoskum_, which is approximately the form
in which Professor McGee and Mr Bartlett wrote this digit in the
numeral “eighty”. Now, it is self-evident that if the element “four”
constitute a factor in the combination denoting “eight”, it must be
added to itself by addition or multiplication, and the result will be
the same in either event. The final _-olka_ appears also as _-otkŭm_,
_-olchkom_, and _-oskum_, in these Serian vocabularies, either in
the numeral “four” or its multiples. The origin and signification of
this ending are not clear; but taking into consideration the great
variations in the spelling of its recorded forms, especially in so
far as the consonant sound preceding the _k_-sound is concerned, it
may not be presumptive to adopt the _s_-sound (though _sχ´_ may be
more correct) as that which represents approximately at least the true
sound, for it varies from _l_, _t_, _lch_, to _s_. And it has been seen
that the final _-um_ is a flexion denotive of serial or consecutive
counting and so not a part of the stem. Then it is seen that _-s-k-_
(the last two hyphens representing uncertain vowels) is the termination
requiring explanation. Now, it is probable that this termination is
identical in meaning and origin with the _-sūk_, _-shoχ_, _-sho_,
_-schoch_, and _-shroj_ (= _-shχ´oχ_) terminating the forms of the
digit “six”. If this identification be correct (and there is no present
reason to doubt it), it signifies “repeated, again, duplicated”, as
was suspected and stated in the discussion of the forms of the numeral
“six”. So granting this derivation to be correct, _kshoχolka_, then,
signifies “four repeated”, which of course denotes “eight”.
In the Yuman list, the first eleven forms are evidently composed of
the numeral “three” and a suffix signifying “added, plus, more than”,
but the last three of the group want this suffix, a fact due perhaps
to the fault of the collector rather than to linguistic development.
The terminations _-eleepai_ and _-shbe-k_ and its variants have
already been explained when treating of the numeral “seven”. And
the twelve forms beginning with _chip-hoke_ (16) are variants from
a common original composed of the numerals “two” and “four”. It
will be readily seen that _chip-_ in such a form as _chip-hoke_ is
a contraction of a form such as _tchibabk_ (14), “four”, _chepap_
(24), “four”, as may be seen in the Yuman list of terms for the digit
“four”. Now, the next portion of the term is _-hoke_, which is but
a slightly disguised numeral “two”, as may be seen by reference to
the schedules of the numeral “two”. Compare _ẖooak_ (23), _huáka_
(19), _uake_ (2), and _hěwáki_ (18), all signifying “two”. Now, the
next term, _maike-homok-enaich_ (8), is a combination of _maike_,
“above, over, more than”, _homok_, “three”, and the ending _-enaich_
(or _-kenaich_), which may be either an ordinal or a distributive
flexion. The form _nio-khamuk_ (14) is a combination of the prefix
_nio-_, signifying “added, above, or more than”, and the conceptual
term _khamuk_, “three”, the expression signifying “three over, or added
to”. The next two examples are evidently irregular, if not spurious.
The form _pakaikhin-awach_ is composed of _pakai_, “seven”, _khin-_,
“one”, and the suffix _-awach_, “added to”. Now, the last, the Cochimi
_nyaki-vamivapai_, appears to be erroneous. It contains the term
_nyaki_ for _ginyaki_, “hand”, but the remainder of the expression is
composed of elements that are not comparable to anything in the meager
material at present accessible. The Serian and the Yuman terms herein
show no relationship.
NINE
_Serian_
A. ksókhŭnt, _ksókh-ŭnt_
B. sohántl, _soh-ántl_
C. soχanthe, _soχ-anthe_, ksovikanlχ´
D. ksobbejoaul (j=χ)
_Yuman_
9_a._ hailyuthu
1. halathuya
11. halathúya
10. halathúig
22. halesúwi
19. halěsúyi
2. halseye
18. húlěthúyi
3. hamhinmoke
13. hoomhoomook
17. hoomhoomook
15. humhummôck
4. humhummóque
12. humhamóok
21. hŭmhummúka
20. jumjamúç (umχamúk?)
5. χemχemúk
8. muke
16. n’yimhummoke
26. nĭmhŭmmōk
23. m’sigk-tkmat
14. nitchibab, (ni(o)tchibab)
6. paaya
7. paeeya
9_b_. páia
I. quac̲h̲era-vampai
The first three Serian terms for “nine” are evidently forms of a common
original, signifying “four added to five”. It is evident that _ksō´kh-_
in (A) _ksō´kh-ŭnt_ is the same element as _-ksō´k_ in _ūnçtksō´k_,
“forty”, and _-kschō´k_ in _ŭnz-untçkŭkschō´k_, “400”. The element
_-ŭnt_ here is a name for “five”. Its literal meaning is “hand”,
which may be gathered from the following citations: _ŭnol´k_=“hand”;
_mĭ´noŭl´t_=“arm”; _ŭnulte-mŭ´ka`p_=“middle finger”, in which _ŭnulte_
means “finger (or hand)”. These are from the vocabulary of Professor
McGee. Then M Pinart records _innolχ´_, “arm”, _in[=tl]ash_ “hand”,
_inol’tis_, “finger, index finger”, _inol’tip_ “ring finger”. And Mr
Bartlett writes _inoyl_, “arm”, _inossiskersk_, “hand”, _inosshack_,
“fingers”. This _-ŭnt_ will be further treated when the numeral “ten”
is under discussion.
While it is evident that the first eight forms of the Yuman list are
but variants from a common original, it is not, however, so clear what
the original signification of the combination was. But as there can not
be any question of relationship between these and the Serian terms,
this fact will not affect the result of this study. The next terms of
the Yuman list are variants of an entirely different combination of
elements. The forms (15) _humhum-môck_ and (12) _humhamóok_ may be
taken as characteristic of these terms. Now, it is plain that there
is here duplication of the stem _hum-_ or _ham-_, “three”, making the
literal sense of the combination to be “three threes”, which of course
gave the required meaning. The Cochimi (23) _m’sigk-tkmat_ contains the
element _m’sig_, “one”, and the final _tkmat_, which appears to mean
“lacking, wanting, or less”. And in the Diegueño (14) _nitchibab_ for
_niotchibab_ a still different method of expressing “nine” is found.
In discussing the numeral “seven” and “eight” the signification of
the initial _nio-_ was ascertained to be “added to, over, plus”, and
_tchibab_ is of course the numeral “four”. The original expression,
then, was “four added to five”, producing the required number, “nine”.
The next three forms, though evidently cognate, are, like the first
group, not analyzable from the data to be obtained from the meager
material at present accessible. The last form is doubtful. These
analyses show no relationship between the Serian and the Yuman terms.
TEN
_Serian_
A. khóhnŭtˡ, _khóh-nŭt´_
B. honachtl, _ho-nachtl_
C. χonalχ´, _χo-nalχ´_, kanlχ, _ka-nlχ´_
D. taul (tanl?)
_Yuman_
6. aráabá
9. arháp
7. arrapa
8. raphawaich
18. buwáwi
1. huwava
19. uábi
2. uave
11. uwawa, (h)wáwa
10. varuk, vuáruk
22. wáwe
3. sahhoke
12. sahóohk
21. sahóka
13. sauhook
15. shahôck
20. shahahjóc (j=χ)
4. shahóque
5. shaχúk
16. sharhoke
17. shauhook
14. selgh-iamát
23. chepam-mesig
III. naganna ignimbal demuejueg=“todas las manos”
I. nyavani-chaqni
The Serian forms of the numeral “ten” are apparently cognate, being
composed, it would seem, of the same elements. Thus they are mere
variants of a common original expression, signifying, literally, “two
fives”, or what originally was the same thing, “two hands”.
The element _khóh-_ in (A) _khólnŭut’_ represents _ghá‘k:(kha‘k)_
or _kō´k_, as it is also written, signifying “two”, and _-nŭt’_ is
the slightly disguised name for “hand” and “finger”, being also
transcribed as _-nachtl_, _-nalχ´_, _-nlχ_, and lastly _-aul_. Compare
these carefully with the words denoting “arm, hand, finger”, in this
language, and it will be seen that the spelling of _khóh-_ varies
in the several vocabularies from _khóh-_, _ho-_, _χo-_, to _ka-_,
respectively. The derivation of the _t_, or rather _tä_, in _taul_ of
Sr Tenochio, is not evident, but seems to be cognate with the prefix
_tom-_, _tum-_, _tŭn-_, or _diŭn-_, already noticed, making _taul_ thus
signify “five added”, i. e., to five, and so producing “ten units”.
Such seems to be the evident resolution of the Serian names for the
numeral “ten”. But _taul_ may have been miswritten for _ta-an`l_.
The first four terms of the Yuman list are plainly based on the numeral
“five”, expressed by _sarap_. The form _raphawaich_ (8) is evidently a
shortened form of _saraphowwaich_, literally “two fives”, or, what was
the same thing at the beginning, “two hands”. The first term, _sarap_,
signifies “five, finger”, denotively, but its literal or connotive
signification is “entire, whole, full, complete, collectively”, a
meaning which was suggested in the discussion of the numeral “five”.
And _howwaich_ is the form of the digit “two” in this dialect.
The next nine forms are so contracted, irregular, and, perhaps,
miswritten that an analysis of them is a matter of doubt and
difficulty, but the following ten terms are cognate and signify “two
fives (hands)”, or, denotively, “ten”. In the comparative list of
names for the “arm, hand, finger”, etc., _shah_, _shawas_, _shawarra_,
and _eesarlya_ are a few of the many variants of _säl_, “arm, hand,
finger”, etc. So, in such a form as _sahhoke_ (3) the _sah_ is the name
for “hand” and _hoke_ is the numeral “two”, the combination signifying
“two fives, hands”, or “ten”. The other nine terms are but variants
of the original of this compound. In _selgh-iamát_ (14), _selgh_ for
_isalgh_ is the element denoting “hand”, or “five”, while _iamat_ means
“added to, upon, over”, there being the subaudition of the element
denoting “five”. Hence the original combination meant “five added to
five”, or “ten”. This is a strict application of the quinary system.
The Kiliwee term, _chepam-mesig_ (23) signifies literally “one
_chepam_”. If reference be made to the “five” list, it will be seen
that there _sol-chepam_ signifies “five”, or, to be exact, is the
translation of the term “five”. Now, the element _sol-_ of this
compound is a variant of _esal_, “hand”, while _chepam_, judging from
analogy, must signify “the whole, entire, the complete”, collectively
“all”. Moreover, the Kiliwee terms for “fingers (dedos)” and “toes
(dedos del pié)”are _salchepa_ and _emechepah_, respectively, wherein
the element _chepah_ is added to _esal_, “hand”, and to _eme_, “leg”.
Hence it may be inferred that _chepam-mesig_ signifies “one complete
count of all the fingers”, and so “ten”. The next is Cochimi, in which
_naganna_ means “hand”, and the last term (I) appears to be miswritten.
It will be seen from these partial analyses of the names for the digit
“ten” that there is no linguistic relationship between the Serian and
the Yuman terms.
ELEVEN
_Serian_
A.
B. tan-tasó-que
C.
D.
_Yuman_
6. aséentik-nitauk
8. sienti
1. sita-giala
10. siti-giálaga
18. siti-kwaä´hli
11. sitta-gálla
3. sahhoke-shitti
4. shahóque-maga-shentick
20. shahajóc umaig ashénd
2. uave-shiti
19. uáveshíti
5. maik-shendík
13. mae-sint
21. emmiá-shiti-ki
23. mesigk-malha
14. nie-khin
The only Seri example of the numeral “eleven” is that which was
recorded by Mr Bartlett, who writes it _tan-ta-só-que_, instead
of _tan-tasó-que_, which exhibits the component elements of this
compound. This expression signifies “one added to, or, over, upon”. Its
conceptual base is the numeral _tasó_, “one”. The initial _tan-_ has
already been discussed while treating of the numeral “seven”. It was
there made a cognate of the initial _tom-_ or _tum-_ of the several
examples of that digit, and likewise of _tanchl_ in Mr Bartlett’s
numbers 12-19. It would seem that the correct form for “eleven”
should be _tanchl-tasóque_, i. e., “ten-one-added-on”. Where “hand”
is the name for “five” and is an element in the name for “ten” there
arises confusion, unless there is marked difference between the two
expressions.
In the Yuman list the first fourteen examples of the numeral “eleven”
have some form of the digit _aséentik_ (_sita_, _siti_, _sint_,
_shiti_), “one”, as the dominant element in the expression, while
the elements denoting “added to, more than, plus”, are severally as
follows: in the first _-nitauk_, in four others a variant of _-giala_,
in five others the prefix _maga-_ (_umaiga_, _emmiá_, _mae_); while
in some such a flexion is entirely wanting, probably, at least in
a majority of the forms, because of misapprehension on the part
of the several collectors rather than the abrasion of use. But in
_mesigk-malha_ (23) _mesigk_ denotes “one”, and _malha_ “plus, added
to”. In the form _nie-khin_ (14), _khin_ signifies “one”, and the
prefix _nie-_, “plus, added”. It will be noticed that the flexion
_maga_ (_umaiga_, _mae_, _emmiá_) is a prefix to the element “one”, and
so when _shahoque_, “ten”, is expressed as in (4) it stands between the
two notional terms. But in (8) neither “ten” nor an element denotive of
addition is expressed.
TWELVE
_Serian_
A.
B. tanchltoque, tan-chlt-oque
C.
D.
_Yuman_
6. havik-nitauk
11. hawā-gálla
18. hěwakě-kwä´hli
10. hovak-tiálik
23. ẖooak-malha
1. huwaga-giala
21. emmiá-hawáka
13. mae-hewik
5. maik-χawík
19. uá-hoáki
2. uave-uake
14. nie-khvabgushbaib
20. shahahjóc umai-javíc (j=χ)
4. shahóque maga habick
8. vaike.
The only known example of the Seri numeral “twelve” is that which was
recorded by Mr Bartlett. He has apparently misapprehended its true
pronunciation, for he wrote _tanchl-to-que_ instead of _tanchltakahque_
or _tanchltakochque_. In his orthography _kahom_ signifies “two”, but
the final _-om_ is employed only in serial counting, so that _kah-_ is
the stem, which is only a variant of _koch_ in _eansl-koch_, “twenty”;
and _tanchl_ signifies “ten”.
In the first six examples of the Yuman list the element “ten” is not
expressed, but only some form of the numeral “two”, with a suffix
denoting “added to, over, more than”; in the next three the flexion
of addition is prefixed to the element “two”; and in the next two,
(19) and (2) respectively, the element “two” is immediately preceded
by the very abbreviated and perhaps misapprehended forms of the
numeral “ten”; in the next a very questionable form is recorded, for
it appears to be an attempt to form a compound signifying “two times
six”, but without accomplishing the purpose; yet it may be miswritten
for _nio-khoak-ěshbe_, in which _khoak_ is the element “two”, with a
doubled sign of addition, namely, the prefix _nio-_, already explained,
and the suffix _-ěshbe_, also explained above. In the next two the
element denoting “ten” is expressed, with _umai-javíc_ and _maga
habick_ as the second part, both meaning “two added”. The last (8)
_vaike_ is a highly modified and probably misapprehended form of an
earlier _havik-ěsbe_, “two added”, with a subaudition of the numeral
“ten”.
TWENTY
_Serian_
A. ŭntç-kō´k
B. eansl-koch
C. kanlχ´ kookχ´
D. taul jaukl
_Yuman_
6. arábavik-takavuts-havík
9. arháp-havik takadútca havík
23. chepam-ẖooak
22. guwákě wáwi
18. hěwakě buwáwi
19. huáka huávi
1. huwāka huwāva
III. naganna agannapa inimbal demuejueg=“las manos y los piés”
3. sahhoke was poppe
8. sahoaich sahocki hawaich
13. sauhook ahoowik
14. selgh-hoág
4. shahóque ahabick
20. shahahjóc ahah javíc (j=χ)
5. shaχúha χawík
2. uake-uave
10. vava-hovak
11. wába-hoa´g
21. womása howŭk
The four examples of the Serian numeral “twenty” are merely
combinations of the terms _kō´k_, _koch_, _kookχ´_ and _jaukl_ (for
_χaukl)_, all cognate forms, meaning “two”, and the forms _ŭntç_,
_eansl_, _kanlχ´_, and _taul_, all cognate and signifying “ten”.
The Yuman expressions denoting “twenty” are all, with two exceptions,
combinations the dialectic elements denotive of “ten” and the forms of
the numeral “two”, which have been treated elsewhere in their proper
places. The two exceptions are (III) the Cochimi, which signifies “all
the fingers and toes”, and (21) the Santa Catalina, which here presents
what appears to be a new term for “ten”, for the final word _howŭk_ is
the numeral “two”. These analyses do not show relationship between the
Serian and the Yuman terms.
THIRTY
_Serian_
A. ŭntç-kōpka
B. eans’l-kapka
C.
D.
_Yuman_
6. arabavik-takavuts-hamók
9. arhap-havik-takadútca hamok
23. chepam ẖoomiak
18. hěmukě buwáwi
1. humuku huwava
11. hwáwa hamōk
8. sahoke-hamuck
13. sauhook-ahoomook
20. shahahjóc ahah jamúc (j=χ)
4. shahóque ahamóck
5. shahúha χamúk
14. selgh-hamuk
19. muku-ávi
2. moke-uave
10. vava-hamok
21. womás hamŭ´k
FORTY
_Serian_
A. ŭntç-ksō´k
B. eans’l-scoch
C.
D.
_Yuman_
9. arhap-havik takadútca tcimpap
23. chepam misnok
2. hoba-uave.
18. hopachě buwáwi
19. hopadsh-uávi
1. hopätia wáva
11. hwáwa hoopá
13. sauhook wauchoopap gishbab
20. shahahjóc ahah tseumpáp
5. shaχúka sumpáp
10. vava-hōpa
21. womas ahopá
FIFTY
_Serian_
A. ŭntç-kóitum
B. eansl-kovat´hom
C.
D.
_Yuman_
9. arhap-havik takadútca çarhabk
14. aselghakai
18. hěräpě buwáwi
11. hwáwa ftápa (Gilbert)
23. mesig quinquedit sol-chepam
13. sauhook wa sarap
19. sěráp uávi
20. shahahjóc ahah saaráp
1. thěrapa wuwáva
10. vava hatábuk
21. womas aseräpa
2. satabe-uave.
COMPARATIVE LISTS OF SERIAN AND YUMAN CONCEPTUAL TERMS
SERIAN
_Man_ _Woman_ _People_, _Indians_
A. kŭ´tŭmm A. kmámm A. kuⁿ-kák
B. éketam B. ékemam B. komkak
C. ktam C. kmam C. komkak
D. {tam (ktam) D. {kmam, kamujik D.
{tamuk; ktamuk (pl.) {kamykij (pl.)
YUMAN
III. tama 19. ěpá věχí II. demansú=“Indian”
IV. {tamá, tämmá, tammá 3. nisúke 24. epái
{=“homo”
{uami=“man, male”
II. delmá 16. nechuck 26. ipai=“Indian”
I. wanyu-ami=“young 17. gechak 15. ipaye
man”
3. apah 5. {senyeák 11. upáh, ûp-ă´
{senyeáks
19_a_. ěpá 12. seenyack I. {maha=“people”
{mahati=“Indian”
4. epá-che (pl.) 8. siniake 23. meẖale
13. epa 20. siñaacca 17. m’tee-pai
12. {epáh 4. sin’yaáke-che 12. ml-épáie
{epátch (pl.) (pl.)
7. thinyeahka 7. peepa
9. {çinyiäk 13. peepa-chamal
{çinyiáktc (pl.)
8. pipachi-taik=“many
men”
17. epa 24. sinquahín 9. pipate (pl. of man)
8. ipa 24a. ěssin 20. piipatse-pallenám
2. {ipa 15. sîin. syn 16. tepitetchetleowah
{ipa gŭli=“Indian”
5. {ipás (s doubtful) 27. sin 5. {matsh-tshámak
{ipátsh (pl.) {matsh-tshámk
19_b_. pá, pá´h 26. siñ 24_a_. ipai=“Indian”
10. pa 14. sing
18. {pa pa-hěmí=“large 6. hanya-aga
{man”
21. pa hŭrmí=“large man” 13. suyaka
22. pa-hami=“large man” 10. pogii
7. peepa, pé-paa 11. {pŭkí (Gilbert)
{pûkehi
9. {pipa pipate (pl.) 18. pukí
11. ŭpā´ (Gilbert) 22. peke
15. ecoúch 1. kweí iníniga=
“squaw, wife”
16. ecotche 2. make, ouidima=
“Indian woman”
14. igutch 21. měbĭsí
24_a_. ikute 23. kokoa
26. ikuĭtch ikwits I. wanki
27. ikwĭtc IV. wakoe (Laymon)
20. curacca wuctu, wuetu
23. kimai (Laymon)
24. equitchquahín huägin=“mulier”
II. huisin
Those philologists who have classed the Seri tongue as a dialect
of the Yuman stock have laid great stress on the alluring phonetic
accordance, supposedly indicative of genetic relationship, between
the Laymon (and probably Cochimi) _tamá_ or _tammá_, “man (homo)”,
and the Serian _kŭ´tŭmm_, _ktam_ or _eketam_, possibly of the same
signification—i. e., “man (homo)”, rather than “man (vir)”; but
the accompanying comparative list of vocables purporting to denote
“man (homo)” discloses the significant fact that _tamá_ (_tammá_)
belongs only to the Laymon, and (probably) the Cochimi dialects.
In Mr Bartlett’s Cochimi record, he wrote _delmá_, “man, hombre”,
and _guami_ (Spanish _g_), “husband”—that is, “male person”. From
certain Laymon texts with interlinear translations in Buschmann’s
“Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache”, etc., the following forms of
the vocables in question have been extracted: _tammá_, “man (homo,
Mensch)”; _tamma-butel_, “this man”; _uami-butel_, “this man, this male
person”; _wami-jua_, “man (vir, Mann), male person”; _wakoe-butel_,
“this woman”; _gui-wuctu-jua_, “his woman”; _whanu_, “small, young, a
child”; _whanu-wami-jua_, “a small, or young, male person”, perhaps “a
boy”. Now, _wanju_ or _wanyu_, “young”, _wáhki_, “woman” (_-aki_ in
_wanju-aki_, “girl”—i. e., “young woman”); _ouami_, “(my) husband”,
correctly, “(my) male person”; _ouĭqua_, “(my) wife”, evidently a form
of _wáhki_, “woman”, are all Cochimi vocables. Dr Gabb, in his Cochimi
vocabulary, did not record the presumptively correct term denoting
“man”; for the word which he has written, _wanyuami_, and which he
has translated “man”, really signifies, “young male person”, rather
than “man (homo)”. This is unfortunate, because in Mr Bartlett’s
Cochimi, _delmá_ is rendered “man (homo)”, and the Cochimi of Padre
Clavigero has _tamá_, “man”, and the Laymon, _tamá_, _tammá_, or
_tämmá_, “man”, and there is seemingly no absolutely satisfactory
method of ascertaining whether the _l_ of Mr Bartlett’s _delmá_, “man”,
is genetic or not. But as the Laymon and the Cochimi are apparently
cognate dialects, it is probable that the form _delmá_ of Bartlett’s
Cochimi and the _tamá_ or _tämmá_ of the Laymon and the Cochimi of
Padre Clavigero are cognate vocables. The part of the terms which the
two dialects have in common is the final and usually accented _-má_;
in other words, _-má_ is the common conceptual element in the vocables
_delmá_ and _tamá_. This of course rests on the presumption that _tamá_
and _delmá_ are compound terms, having probably genetic relationship.
The following facts may aid in discovering the lexica constituting
the elements of the two words in question, and these, it is seen, are
_-má_, _del-_, and _ta-_. In Dr W. M. Gabb’s record of Cochimi words,
collected by him in the vicinity of San Borja and Santa Gertrudis about
the “center of the peninsula” of Lower California, the term “Indian” is
represented by _maha-ti_, and “people” by _maha_. On the same schedule
with the Cochimi Dr Gabb recorded a vocabulary of the Kiliwee, dwelling
150 miles “further north” at and near San Quentin. In this dialect,
which is Yuman, the word “Indian” is rendered by _kimai_, and “people”
by _meẖa-le_ (preferably _meχale_[335]). The apparently genetic
accordance between the Kiliwee word for “people” and the Cochimi terms
denoting “Indian” and “people” is brought into stronger light by a
comparison of the terms for “warrior”; in the Cochimi, _mac̲h̲-karai_
(_maχ´-karai_), in the Kiliwee, _maẖk-pkátai_ (_maχk-pkátai_). The
unquestioned kinship between these two dialects warrants the inference
that these two compound expressions, denotive of the same thing and
possessing at least one common element, _maχ-_ or _maχ´-_, must accord
approximately at least, in the signification of their heteromorphic
constituents.
[335] In Dr Gabb’s alphabet, an underscored _c̲h̲_ occurs, which,
he states, sounds “like soft German ‘ch’ as in ‘ich’”, and also
an underscored _ẖ_, which is, he says, “heavily aspirated”. For
convenience the character χ has been substituted for both these sounds,
except that for the former it is accented thus χ´.
In the Kiliwee _pah-kute_ signifies “a chief”, from _e-pa_, “Indian”,
hence “man” (primitively) and _kute_ for (_k_)_e-tai_, “large, great”,
hence “old”, found in such expressions as _sal-kootai_, “thumb”,
literally “large finger”, and _pah-tai_, “old”, but literally “old
man”. So the name for a chief may be rendered freely “the elder
person; the old man (the wise man)”. The Cochimi term _mac̲h̲-ka-é_,
as written by Dr Gabb, denotes “far”, while _mac̲h̲-i-kang-i-n̲g̲a_
means “near”. These vocables may preferably be written thus, _maχ´-kaé_
and _maχ´-kañ-iña_. The ending _-iña_ is a privative flexion or suffix
in Cochimi, forming derivatives with meanings directly adverse to
those of the primals; so the literal signification of _maχ´-kañ-iña_
is “not far”, hence “near”; but in _maχ´-kaé_ the final _-kaé_ is
the adjective “large, great”, having here an intensive function
signifying approximately “more”, while _maχ´-_ is evidently a form
of the proximate pronominative found in the terms “thou” and “ye”
in this group of languages. In the Laymon _kahal ka_, “water large
(is)”, for a “sea or stream of water”, _ka_ signifies “large, great”;
and the Cochimi _kättenyi_, “few, not much”, is literally _kätte-_
for (_k_)_etai_, “large, great, much, many”, and _-iñi_ the privative
denoting “not”. And the Laymon _metañ_, “many, much”, is evidently
from _m-_ for _ma_ (a proximate pronominative), _eta_ for the Cochimi
_etai_, “large, great, much, many”, and the final _-ñ_. Compare
Bartlett’s _modo_, “all, todos”, and _modoliñi_, “many, much”. Such
are some of the forms of the adjective signifying “great, large, much,
many”. There is also in the Cochimi an intensive _pa_, _ibal_, _ibá_,
which signifies “very”. This explains the presence of the _p-_ sound in
the term _maχk-pkátai_, the Kiliwee for “warrior”.
It has thus been shown that a probable connection exists between the
Cochimi terms _maha_, “people”, and _maha-ti_, “Indian”, on the one
hand, and the _maχ-_, inferentially signifying “man” in the Cochimi
and Kiliwee names for “warrior”, _maχ´-karai_ and _maχk-pkátai_,
and the _meχa-_ in the Kiliwee _meχa-le_, “people”, on the other.
The significance of the initial _ta-_ in _tämmá_ (_tamá_, _tammá_,
_tamal_, _tammalá_) seems to be that of a definitive pronominative; it
is found in the Cochimi of Dr Gabb and in the Laymon. Dr Gabb recorded
in his vocabulary _ta-ip_, “good”, but _ta-ip-ena_, “bad”, the final
_-ena_ being the characteristic Cochimi privative suffix; elsewhere
written _-iñi_. So it would seem that the stem is _-ip_, meaning “good,
desirable”. In Kiliwee _aχok_ (Dr Gabb’s _aẖok_) signifies “flesh,
meat”, while _aχok-m-gai_ denotes “deer”, literally “good, desirable
meat”, in which _m-gai_ signifies “good, desirable”; it is probably
connected with the term _ka_, “great”, and its variants noted above,
and so may also denote “abundance”. Under the word “love” Dr Gabb
has _m’gai-yip_, the free translation of which should read “greatly
desirable; abundantly good, well”. Thus _-ip_, or _-yip_, signifies
“desirable, good, pleasing to the sense”; in Laymon likewise the
initial _-ta_ is sometimes wanting, as in _wayp-mang_, “good (is)”,
as distinguished from _tahipo-mang_, “good (is)”. The final _-mang_
(_=mañ_) is a term apparently denoting “to exist, to live”, and is
possibly cognate with the _má_ (Kiliwee _me_) in the words discussed
above.
This, it would appear, is the origin of the _má_ in _tamá_, “man”.
The individual character of the initial _ta_ is suggested in what has
already been said in reference to its absence from such vocables as
_wayp-mang_ and _m’gai-yip_, in which the _wayp_ and the _yip_ are
identical with the _ip_ in _ta-ip_, “good”. This term _ta_ appears as
the relative “that” under the form _te_. It also appears as a prefix in
the Cochimi and Laymon numeral “one” and in the adjective _te-junoey_,
“a few”; also in the adjective _de-muejueg_, “all”; and again in the
peculiar numeral “one”, namely _du-juenidi_.
Such appears to be the analysis of the Cochimi and Laymon _tamá_,
“man”. The form of it recorded by Mr Bartlett, _del-má_, “man”,
compared with his _de-ma-nsú_, “Indian”, is seemingly a valid
confirmation of the foregoing derivation, because this _l_ in _de-l-má_
is probably identical with the final _l_ or _lá_ in _tama-l_ and
_tamma-lá_, “man”, cited above. In the Cochimi for “water”, _ca-l_,
its true character is partly seen; _cal oso_ signifies “river”, but
in _caa-pa-l_ (Gabb’s _kaχ-pa-ra_), “sea”, it becomes a suffix, the
element _pa_ signifying “much, great”, and Dr Gabb’s form shows that
in the dialect he recorded its form is _ra_; again in _cal ka_,
“lake”, literally “large water”, it is a suffix. It appears again in
Mr Bartlett’s _del-mag_, “light”, as compared with Dr Gabb’s _ma-ahra_
(=_maah-ra_), “fire”; it appears evident that the _mag_ of _del-mag_
and the _maah_ of _maah-ra_ are cognate, so that _de-l_ is here found
as a prefix, as it is in Mr Bartlett’s _de-l-má_, “man”. Thus it is
that _delmá_ and _dema-nsú_, “Indian”, of Mr Bartlett and _tamá_ and
_tammalá_ of Hervas, Duflot de Mofras, and Miguel del Barco are cognate.
It accordingly appears that the assumed linguistic relationship between
the forms discussed above and the Serian _kŭ’tŭmm_ (_ktam_, _tam_),
“man”, is very improbable, because there are no evidences nor data
indicative that the Serian forms have had a common linguistic tradition
with the Cochimi and Kiliwee forms discussed above. It seems proper,
therefore, to reject such assumed relationship between the Yuman and
the Serian vocables in this comparison.
The comparative list of names purporting to signify “woman” in both the
Serian and the Yuman tongues reveals not a single phonetic or lexic
accordance that may even suggest linguistic kinship between the two
groups of vocables.
The comparative list of terms purporting to signify “people” and
“Indian” in the Serian and Yuman groups of languages exhibits, in a
manner similar to those already examined, the same decisive lack of
phonetic accordance between the vocables compared.
SERIAN
_Head _ _Hair_ _Nose_
A. aʰleht (aʰleht) ŭŭf
B. ih’lit ina=“feather” (?) îfe
C. ill’it ill’it kopt’no hif
D. obeka=“down”
Yuman
2. ho (and “face”) 1. kawáwa 3. aho
17. ẖo 11. cowäwä 16. ho, chinattuksah
11. hoo 18. kuwâ´wa 15. h’ho
19. {u 21. kâwâ´wá 13. ẖo
{hu
1. huú 2. {kovaŭva 17. ẖo
{govava (Loew)
10. huu 19. kwáwa 21. hó
4. chukschâssese 22. kwawe 20. ijó (j=χ)
8. ichucksa 10. koau 4. hoó-che (pl. ?)
7. chookk’sa 7. mókora (Gibbs) 7. mee-hoo=“thy nose”
13. chookoosá 9. mokór̃a 12. {ee-hóo
{eho-tche (pl.)
6. tchuksa 6. mogora 2. hu
9. tcúksa 8. amacora 18. hu
20. edzukshá 7. mem-mukkorra (Mowry) 19. hú
12a. ecou-tsucherówo 12b. ocono 22. hu
14. iltá 4. eéche 6. ihu
3. {itchama 12a. eětche (pl. ?) 8. ihu
{mocorre
(Peabody;=“hair”?)
12b. oom-whelthe 20. ee 9. {hihú
{hihúv-tca (pl.)
24. huch’lta 5. eès 14. khu
15. hulchtekamo 23. neesmok 5. iχu-úsh (pl.)
16. tenahcumoh 3. {amawach 23. epe
{mowh’l
18. kûmpaiya kûwâ´wa 15. hulchsta 24. hon’yapá
21. kapai 24. huch’lmo 11. yaya (Gilbert)
yaiivă (Renshawe)
5. kwisásh 17. ẖ’lemo 10. yaiya
23. ne-ee 14. khaltá 1. yáyō
I. epok 16. hetltar (r silent) I. vic̲h̲pyuk
II. gupir 13. m’aeae II. huichil
III. agoppi I. epok 25. ah`u (=aχu)
25. hŭsta-kwarŭr, II. lagubú 26. a`hō; h`ō (= aχō)
=“scalp”
26. măwhl 25. hŭsta 27. eh`ū (=eχū)
27. h`l-ta (=χlta) 26. hl-ta 26. h`o (χo)=“beak, bill”
24_a_. ă-hú 27. h`l-ta (=χlta) 24_a_. ă-hú=“beak, bill”
24_a_. h`alta (=χalta)
This comparison of the Seri and Yuman terms for “head”, to ascertain
linguistic relationship, seems barren of any but a negative result. It
is true that there is an apparent resemblance between the Seri and the
Diegueño terms, and a still more doubtful one between the Seri and the
Kutchan. It is significant that the twenty-odd other Yuman dialects
employ for “head” an entirely different term. The kinship of the Seri
term to either the Kutchan or the Diegueño is therefore nothing more
than a possibility, and it seems safe to reject it. The phonetic
discordances, and the fact that there has been no evidence adduced
to show that the Diegueño term was ever prevalent in the other Yuman
dialects, warrant this rejection.
The following analysis may be of service here. A careful comparison
of the Diegueño terms for “head”, and “hair” indicates that the form
(14) _ilta_, “head”, is very probably a shortened _khalta_, “hair”. In
the Diegueño, Santa Isabella, and Mesa Grande vocabularies Mr Henshaw
recorded several names for “hair” and “head” which may serve to aid
in the explanation of the words in the following comparative list.
In his Diegueño record _lěmĭs_ and _lĭmi_, variants evidently of a
common original, stand for “hair, feathers, skin, and fish scales”,
as in the entries _haltau lěmĭs_, “rabbit skin”, _kasau lěmĭs_, “fish
scales”, _kŭkwaip lěmĭs_, “deerskin”, _lěmĭs_, “feathers” and “hair”
of animals; and also _yiu-lěmĭs_, “eyebrow”, literally, “eye hair”, and
_ā-lĭmi_, “beard”, literally, “mouth hair”, in which _yiu_ for _iuu_
means “eye” and _ā_ for _yau_, “mouth”. In his Mesa Grande vocabulary,
Mr Henshaw recorded _h`lta_ for both “head” and “hair”; in his Hawi
Rancheria vocabulary he wrote _mă-whl_ for “head”, and _h`lta _for
“hair”; and lastly, in his Santa Isabella record _hŭsta_ means “hair”,
_hŭsta-kwarŭr_ is written for “head” (literally, “hair skin”, meaning
“the scalp”); and _ŭstú-kŭmō_ is rendered “skull”. Thus, _h`lta,
lěmĭs_, and _hŭsta_ are terms denoting “hair, fur, skin, feathers,
and fish scales”. Yet it is possible that _hŭsta_ is a softened and
ill-pronounced cognate of _h`lta_. In Corbusier’s Yavapai vocabulary
“eyebrow” is written _yuh-kělěme_, and in Dr White’s Tonto word list
_yŭ-gŭlma_, both signifying literally “eye hair”. It is apparently
safe, therefore, to regard the element _-kělěme_ or _-gŭlma_ of these
two dialects as cognate with the _lěmĭs_ (_lĭmi_) noticed above. In
his Mohave record Mr Corbusier renders his entry _himíç_, “eyebrow”,
literally, “eye hair”; and in the H`taäm or San Tomaseño by Dr Gabb
“beard” is written _āh-lamĭse_, literally, “mouth hair”. “Hair” is
written _helt’h-yee-mōh_, seemingly “head hair”, for “forehead” is
rendered by _het’l-ŏmȳ_, in which _helt’h-_ or _het’l_ seems to be the
term denotive of “head”; but in Lieutenant Mowry’s Diegueño this term,
which is there written _hetltar_ (for _hetltā_) signifies “hair”. In
Ten Kate’s Maricopa, “beard” is written _ya-womis_, literally “mouth
hair”, _-womis_ being clearly a variant of _himiç_, which is but a
variant of _lĭ-mĭth_ and of _-kělěme_ noticed above. In the Santa
Isabella, Mr Henshaw wrote “feathers” _lĭ-mĭth_.
COMPARATIVE LIST OF DIEGUEÑO AND OTHER YUMAN NAMES FOR “HEAD”, “HAIR”
_Head_ _Hair_
14. iltá khaltá
15. hu-lchte-kamo hu-lchsta
16. tenah-cumoh hetltar (= hetltā)
24. hu-ch’lta hu-ch’lmo
24_a_. ăhú (also h`al-ta (= χal-ta)
“beak, bill”)
17. ẖo (= χo) ẖ’lemo (= χlemo)
27. h`l-ta (= χl-ta) h`l-ta (= χl-ta)
26. mă-whl ẖ`o (= χo) hl-ta
(also “beak, bill”)
25. hŭsta? hŭsta
It seems clear, furthermore, that _iltá_ (14) is merely a curtailed
example of _khaltá_ (14), for it is clear that this _iltá_ is a cognate
with the _h`lta_ (27), the initial _h`_-sound of which, Mr Henshaw
says, represents a rough guttural utterance (represented herein by
the character χ). In (27) of the comparative list _h`lta_, expresses
both “head” and “hair”, thus completing the circuit and making _iltá_
cognate with _khaltá_, since it is plain that _h`alta_ (_χalta_) of
24_a_, _hlta_ of 26, and _h`l-ta_ of 27, the initial sound in each
being, as shown above, a rough guttural are related to _khaltá_. The
term _hu-ch’lmo_ (24) is a compound of _hu-_, “head”, and _-ch’lmo_, an
evident cognate with the element _-gŭlma_ or _-kělěme_ ( _=kělěmĭs_)
noticed above, denoting “hair”; hence, the combination signifies “hair
of the head”. In like manner the H`taäm or San Tomaseño form (17)
_ẖ’lemo_ may be explained. In this dialect _ẖo_ (_=χo_) signifies
“head”, and an original _ẖolemo_ (_=χo-lěmĭs_), signifying “hair of the
head”, became contracted to the form in question, namely, _ẖ’lemo_. In
the Santa Isabella record of Mr Henshaw _hŭsta_ signifies “hair”, but
_hŭsta-kwarŭr_ is given for “head”, while _ŭs-tŭk-ŭm-ō_ is translated
“skull”; the last expression should have been written _(h)ŭstŭ-kŭmō_.
Under the caption “robe of rabbit skins”, _h`kwĭr_ is found, but under
“skin” in “Parts of the Body” of his schedule, _`nyakwăt_ (26) and
_n’kwěr_ (25) are found, both meaning “my skin”; Corbusier’s Mohave
record has _himát-makwil_ rendered “skin of man”, but meaning “skin
of the body”, _himát_ signifying “body”, and _makwil_, “skin”. The
Mesa Grande term for skin is given as _lĭmĭs_, a vocable which has
already been discussed. So it must be that the foregoing _hŭsta-kwarŭr_
signifies “skin of the hair” or “skin of the head”, if _hŭsta_ is also
a synonym for “head”. The final _-ŭr_ in the compound in question is
due to the misapprehension of the rolled or trilled _r_-sound with
which the term for skin terminates. The element _-kŭmō_ of the vocable
_(h)ŭstŭ-kŭmō_, rendered “skull”, is also a factor in the Diegueño
terms for “head” in numbers (15) and (16) of the comparative list; so
that it is highly probable that these terms signify “skull” rather
than “head”. And, lastly, it is equally probable that the expression
(18) _kumpaiya kûwâwâ_ signifies “hair of the whole head (skull)”
rather than “head” only; for the initial _kum-_ is presumptively the
cognate of the forms _-cumōh_ and _-kŭmō_, denoting in the compounds
already noted “skull”, while _-paiya_ signifies “all”, and _kûwâwâ_
“hair”. There appears to be a relationship between the terms for
“head” and “hair” in (12_b_) _oomwhelthe_, “head”, (3) _amawhach_ and
_mowh´l_, “hair”, and (26) _mă-whl_, “head”. The explanation of the
term _hu-lchsta_, (15), denoting “hair”, is probably to be found in
its resolution into _hu_ (_χu_), “head”, and _lchsta_ for a form of
_hŭsta_, “hair”, discussed above; the term signifies, therefore, “hair
of the head”. In like manner _huch´lta_ (24), rendered “head” there,
seems rather to mean “hair of the head”, by its reduction to _hu_,
“head”, and _ch´lta_, for a form of _khalta_ (= _χalta_), “hair”.
The Serian variants of the term denoting “head”, are respectively (A)
_aʰleht_. (B) _ih´lit_, and (C) _ill´it_. These forms certainly
have no kinship with the Yuman terms discussed above; they have a
totally alien aspect. The Serian terms for “hair” are respectively (A)
_aʰleht_, (B) _ina_ (“feather” rather than “hair”), (C) _ill´it
kopt´no_, and (D) _obeke_, and while the last has an aspect foreign to
the other terms classed as Serian, none of the vocables appear to offer
ground upon which to predicate relationship between the Yuman and the
Serian. For a further explanation of _obeke_ turn to the discussion of
“tooth”.
The comparative list of Serian and Yuman names for the “nose” reveals
no evidence of linguistic relationship between the two groups; but an
inspection of the Yuman lists for “head”, “hair”, and “nose”, exhibits
a close connection between a number of the names for “head”, “nose”,
and “beak, bill”.
SERIAN
_Eye_ _Face _To see_
A. mĭtto aiyen
B. íto îyén ikehom
C. hittovχs (pl. ?) hien (in hienkipkue)= okta; χ´ookta
“cheeks”
D. iktoj (for iktoχ´)(pl. ?) llen
YUMAN
4. edóche (pl.) edóche eyûuk
7. {hidho {hidho {hissâmk (far), héyūk (near)
{meet´dho=“thy eye” {meethoownya=“they face” {ekwuo
6. ído hisamk, i-údo[336]
8. idosaca ilo halquack
9. hiço, hiçotca (pl.) hiço samk=“I see it”
isampotc=“I do not see”
12a. edotche-ée (pl.) odótche, eeyu o-ook
13. medok=“thy eye” meya eyu
20. edhó edo-cuámcoba iyúc
21. yú yú
2. yû ho (and “head”) ó-o
22. yu yu
19. uú
11. yu, úh (Gilbert) ethool, tialbûgû
18. yuh yu ahámi
11. yuh` (Renshawe) ethoól
1. yú-u páya
10. yu-u yuu akhámuk
I. yupicha (pl.?) yupi gir
11. ye-baká yabi amigi
3. agu, ihu iuabó ouwerk
23. ayu neẖuẖa sau
14. hiyéu, i-ído iyib
17. yeoo yeoo oom
15. yiou alt´hwá ewiouch
16. eeyou eeoh ohum
12_b_. eeyu-suneyao
24. yeou kewú
III. gadey
5. woyoès idosh, yaχelemísh ashäämk
25. hiiyu hiiyu
26. iyiu iyiu
27. iyiu iyiu
[336] This signifies, “let us see”; Dr Loew also writes, _iyó-ok_, “to
see you”.
Eight of the terms for “eye” in the yuman word lists are _ído_,
_hidho_, or their variants, in five Yuman dialects, Maricopa,
Mohave, Hummockhave, Kutchan, and M´mat (virtually in but three, for
Hummockhave is but a subdialect of Mohave, and M´mat of Kutchan), and
the remaining twenty-one examples are from an entirely different stem
or base which is apparently connected with a verb “to see,” one of the
forms of which is _eyûuk_ (4), _héyuk_ (7), and _iyó-ok_ (6); the form
_ído_ and its several variants is seemingly connected with _iúdo_ (6),
“let us see”, apparently an imperative form, in a manner similar to the
connection between _yú_ (2), “eye”, and its variants, and the verb form
_eyûuk_ just cited.
It will be seen from the table that _okta_ and _χ´ookta_ (or _χ´ukta_)
are the Serian forms of the verb “to see”. The form _iktoj_ or
_iktoχ´_, “eyes”, recorded by Sr Tenochio, is the nominal form of that
verb, the final _j_ or _χ´_ being, as it would appear, the plural
ending. The _-vχs_ final of M Pinart’s record as distinguished from
Professor McGee’s _mĭtto_ and Mr Bartlett’s _íto_ and approximated in
Sr Tenochio’s _iktoχ´_, is evidently plural in function. While the
Serian material bearing on this question is, indeed, very meager, it
nevertheless seems proper to regard the apparent accordance between
the Serian term for “eye (eyes)” and the Yuman vocable, _ído_ and its
variants, of limited prevalency, signifying “eye,” as fortuitous rather
than genetic.
The comparative list of the Serian and the Yuman names for the “face”
shows no relationship between the two groups of languages.
SERIAN
_Tongue_ _Tooth, teeth_ _Foot_
A. âps´s A. atá`st A. tâhŏtᵏˡ
B. íp´l B. itast B. itóva
C. hipχl C. hitast C. ittovaχ
D. D. D. itoba
YUMAN
II. abilg 4. edoóche 3. amea (Peabody)
12.{epulch 12. aredóche 13. mee
{epailche
4. epalch 6. idó 17. mee
10. ipal 8. ido 11. mi (Gilbert)
11. ipā´l (Gilbert) 5. hidoö´s 19. mi
21. ipä´l 9. hidhó (hi¢ó) 21. mĭ´
20. ipáll 7. meet’dho 10. mie
8. ipala 13. medok 18. mĭh
2. pala 20. edháw 11. mĭnh (Renshawe)
6. ipaylya 11. yâ (Gilbert) 1. míi
I. hapara 19. yâ 24. emil
18. hipä´l 21. yâ´ 15. emil-yepiyen
5. hipálsh 11. yō (Renshawe) 4. emésh
9. hipälý 2. yo 8. eme-culepe
13. mepal 18. yoh 23. emepah
7. meepahlya, hípala 1. yóo 12. emetch-slip aslap-yah
IV. mabela 10. yoo 20. eme-guzlapa-zl´áp
15. anapalch 17. yeow 16. emmee
24. anapalch 16. eow (ow long) 6. ime
14. anepáilkh 23. eau 3. imi-coushu
16. anpatl 14. iyao 14. i-mil
17. ẖenapail 3. iyahui 9. himé
23. neẖapal 15. iyáou 5. himís
3. inyapatch 24. iyaou 7. meemee
1. yupáu 11. foea 2.{nanyo
{nanû (White)
11. yupäl (Renshawe) I. hastaá I. ma-nyakkoyan (cf.
ma-nyak, “leg”)
IV. agannapa (cf. “leg”,
“hand”)
After a careful examination of the collated lists of names purporting
to signify “tongue” in the Serian and Yuman languages it will be seen
that the relationship conjectured to exist between the two groups
is fortuitous or coincidental rather than real. The guttural rough
breathing χ preceding the _l_ sound in M Pinart’s record, and indicated
by an apostrophe in Mr Bartlett’s spelling and by an _s_ in Professor
McGee’s orthography, is clearly wanting in all the Yuman terms cited.
Were there linguistic relationship between the two groups of terms
here compared it would seem that this sound should find a place in one
or another of the long list of Yuman terms, notably divergent among
themselves. It is possible, if not probable, that the final _l_, _la_,
or _ra_ of the Yuman terms is not a part of the stem; but this would
not affect the want of accordance noted above.
An analytic investigation of the comparative list of vocables
purporting to signify “tooth” in the Serian and the Yuman languages
discloses no evidence of genetic relationship between them. Those who
classify the Serian speech as a dialect of the Yuman cite the Yuman
_ido_, _hidhó_ (the _eh-doh_ of Lieutenant Bergland), signifying
“tooth”, as one of the vocables indicating a genetic relationship
between the two groups of languages. The comparison is made between
the _ido_, _hidhó_, and _eh-doh_ cited above and the close variants of
the Serian _ata`st_. An inspection of the comparative list of names
for “tooth” shows that this particular Yuman form is confined to the
Mohave, Maricopa, and Kutchan dialects (for the _M’mat_, which also
employs this term, is nearly identical with the Kutchan), and that the
remainder of the Yuman list of dialects has, with a single exception,
an entirely different word; this exception being the Cochimi, which
independently has another. The Yuman group, then, has three radically
different words purporting to signify “tooth”.
The Serian vocable for “tooth” is a compound term, being composed of
elements denoting “mouth” and “stone”. In the Seri word-collection
of Professor McGee _attě´nn_ signifies “mouth”; _atta-moχ_, “lower
lip”, possibly “down about the mouth”; _attahk_, “saliva” (“water of
the mouth”); _attahkt_, “the chin”; _takōps_, “upper lip”; _attěms_,
“beard”; _ata`st_, “tooth”; and _a`st_, “rock, stone”. Mr Bartlett,
in his vocabulary, recorded _îten_, “mouth”; _ita-mocken_, “beard”;
and _hast_, “stone”. M Pinart, in his Seri word list, wrote _hiten_,
“mouth”; _hita-mokken_, “beard”; and _hast_, “stone”. Lastly, Sr
Tenochio wrote _iten_, “mouth”, and _ahste_, “stone”, in _ahsteka_
“large, high stone, rock”. Sr Tenochio also recorded _obeke_, “hair,
down (pelo)”. One of the peculiarities of the sounds represented
by the letters _m_ and _b_ is that in many instances they grade
one into the other. There is here, seemingly, a case in point. The
_moχ_ of Professor McGee, the _mocken_ of Mr Bartlett, the _mokken_
of M. Pinart, and the _obeke_ of Sr Tenochio appear to be cognates.
Substituting _m_ for the _b_ in _obeke_, _omeke_ results, which is
approximately the _moχ_, _mocken_, _mokken_ cited above. Hence,
_hita-mokken_ and its congeners, it seems, signify “down of the mouth”.
In _attahk_, “saliva”, the element combining with _attě_ (for it is
plain that the final _-n_ is dropped in compounding) is _`ahk_ or
_`akh_, “water”, so that this compound signifies, literally, “water of
the mouth”. These analyses show that _attě´nn_, _iten_, and _hiten_,
dropping the final _n_-sound, unite with other elements in the form
_attě_, _ite_, and _hite_, respectively. Now, these, in combination
with _a`st_ or _ast_, “stone”, become, respectively, _atta`st_,
_itast_, and _hitast_, the forms of the word for “tooth” recorded by
Professor McGee, Mr Bartlett, and M Pinart, in the order given. The
Seri name for “tooth” signifies, then, literally “stone of the mouth”
or “stones of the mouth”. This analysis demonstrates the lack of
relationship between the Serian and Yuman names for tooth.
The comparative schedules of names for “foot” in the Serian and the
Yuman languages show no accordances of a phonetic character tending to
show any genetic relationship between the two groups compared.
SERIAN
_Arm_ _Hand_ _Finger(s)_ _Thumb_ _Fingernail(s)_
A. mĭ`noŭlˡt` A. {ŭnolˡk, A. ŭnut- A. ŭnultekōk A. ŭnosk
{ŭnlŭhss`
{unlă’hss`
B. inoyl B. inosiskersk B. inosshack B. B. inósk’l
C. innolχ´ C. intl̃ash C. inol’tis C. inol’vekoχ C. inoskl̃χ´
D. inls D. D. D. D.
YUMAN
2_b_. sote 10. sal 3. ainchaho 1. sal-kövatéa 6. salgolyoho
(White) (Heintzelman)
1. t’hótii 11. sal 6. salgoharaba 10. sal-guvetee 23. salẖow
10. thutii 21. sál 21. salsělawhó= 11.{săl-qovutéh 21. sál saleehó
“fingernail” {sal-guviteye
11. thutiya 18. säl 23. salchepa 18. säl-kuběté 7. saltilyoho
(Gilbert) (Gibbs)
18. thudí 22. sále 11.{săltiqĭ 21. sal-kŭbité 9. hisalyekěl-
{saltida yěhó
13. mevee 1. sálle 10. saltídya 9. hisalye- 8. isalculyiho
kûbûtá
4. mibiísch 23. esal 15. selchkasow 19. shál-gubdé 16. asshatlkay-
show (o as
in bough)
7. {meebeenya 24. esalch 23. sal-kootai
{(Mowry)
{hibí
(Gibbs)
12. eesálche 2. shal-kóta
7. eesarlya
(Mowry)
9. hivipúk 15. selchpayén 12. esalche serap 13. shal-kserap 12. eesalche calla
hotche
2_a._ vuyeboka 7. hisála 24. esalchqualy- 5. hisháltye- 13. meshalkleho
umas watásh
21. sál 9. hisalkothar- 8. isalcusirape 20. ishallchevetá 7. meesarlquil-
̃ápa yoho
11. (sál)hănōvă 14. isalgh 9. hisalkothar I. ginyakyuqui 15. selchkawaoh
=“right ̃ápa
hand”
(Renshawe)
26. satl` 8. isalsicon 17. shaẖ (ẖ=χ) 25. hasuth- 14. selkeshau
kapatai
15. selch 17. shaẖ 3. shawas 26. sakl-pĭtai 18. sělěhó
(Peabody)
24. esalch 19. shál 4. eshaki- 19. shělahó
sharábish
12. {eeseth´l, 2. shala 19. shál 20. shallglojó
{èsee´l
23. esílmok 5. shalkeseráps 5. shalkeseráps 1. siluw`or
shèndish
6. isálya 4. eshalish 13. shalkesera 2. shalahuó
8. isale 20. eshallchag- 2. shalagaite= 25. silyawhó
hpeyén “thumb”
14. isalgh 13. meshal 20. eshallque- 17. shaẖnepool
sharáp
17. shaẖ (ẖ=χ) 16. asshatl 16 .asshalscarap 10. setehóa
19. shál 25. h`asătlkwia- 25. hasuthkwaii- 11. sĭtăhwóû
yěl mut
20. eshall 6. hathbink 7. {meesarlqui- 5. keshliwoχósh
thahrapa
(Mowry)
{sequaharapa
(Gibbs)
5. ishalísh I. ginyak I. ginyakyuqui 3. elcawho´p (Peabody)
16. asshat lII. naganná II. ignimbal 4. eshekiohoósh
25 .h`asath` III. naganná III. ignimbal 24. esalchqualyu-
how
I. ginyakpak IV. naganná IV. ìñimbal I. ginyakka
II.guenebí 14. enepul II. geneka
3. {shawarra
(Peabody)
{arowhur
Prominent among the data set forth to establish an alleged genetic
linguistic relationship between the Serian and the Yuman tongues has
been the word “hand” as represented in the languages in question.
A discriminating examination, however, of the accompanying comparative
schedules, comprising the words “arm, hand, finger, thumb, and
fingernail,” fails to reveal any evidence that any genetic relationship
exists between the languages here subjected to comparison.
It has been suggested that the relationship is established through the
Yuman _sal_ (_shala_, _isalgh=isalχ_), “hand”, etc., and the Serian
name for “wing” as recorded by M. Pinart, namely, _isselka_; but Mr.
Bartlett wrote this word _iseka_ without the _l_, so this sound may
or may not be genetic. But it has not been shown that _isselka_ or
_iseka_ ever signified “hand, arm, finger, thumb, fingernail”, to
a Seri, or that it is a component element in any one of these five
terms in the Serian tongue; and so it is apparently futile, in the
absence of historical evidence, to attempt to employ this term _iseka_
or _isselka_, “wing”, as an assumed cognate of the Yuman _sal_, to
establish linguistic relationship between the languages.
COMPARATIVE LIST OF SERIAN FINGER-NAMES
_McGee_ _Pinart_ _Bartlett_
_Thumb_ ŭnŭltékok inol´vekoχ
_Forefinger_ ŭnŭ´ˡstess inol´tis
_Middle finger_ ŭnŭltemŭ´ka`p inol´l´emakkap
_Ring finger_ ŭnŭlteépa inol´tip
_Little finger_ ŭnŭlschálk inol´shak
_Arm_ {mĭ´noŭlˡt innolχ´ i-noyl
{mĭnoŭlˡd
_Wrist_ ŭnuhpkĭht inoliavap´χ´a
_Hand_ {ŭnolˡk intl̃ash i-nos-is-kersk
{ŭnlŭ´hss`, ŭunlă´hss`
_Fingers_ inol´tis {i-nos-shack
{i-nos-shack-
itova= “toes”
_Right hand_ inol´l´apa
_Left Hand_ istl̃ik
_Finger nails_ ŭnosk` inoskl̃χ´ i-nósk´l
It would seem, that the term given by M Pinart for “fingers” is not
accurate, since he has previously recorded it for “forefinger”, in
which he is confirmed by Professor McGee. It seems probable that the
literal signification of the term for “little finger” is “son (or
offspring) of the hand.” Professor McGee writes _i-sahk_ for “son” as
said by the father, and M Pinart writes _isaak_ for the same idea.
SERIAN
_Wing(s)_ _Feather(s)_ _Bird_
A. A. A.
B. iséka B. hrekina,=“bird B. schaîk; (schek-)[337]
feather”
C. isselka C. inna C. shek; (shiik-)
D. D. D.
[337] Mr Bartlett wrote _schek-aipch_, “bird’s egg”, and
_ahano-hraîk_, “a duck”, literally, “water bird”, thus showing
that _hrek_ in the term “feather” signifies “bird”. M Pinart wrote
_shiik-immen_, “bird’s nest”, and _ipχ´`_, “egg”. In both, the
spellings here differ somewhat from the terms in the list. In the term
for “duck” and “feather”, Mr Bartlett substitutes _hr_ for the _sch_ in
his spelling of the name for a “bird”.
YUMAN
2. sha 4. shabílsh 2.tishá
13. eeshalk´sab̲i̲llus 5. shawílsh 17_a_. tăchā (San Tomas)
7. ibīlya (Gibbs) 7. seebeelya (Mowry) 19. itisha; tyesha
eebeelya (Mowry) siviya (Gibbs)
9. hivílyě 6. sivílya 22. tesya
11. wă´lă 9. sivílya 21. tcĭsá
18. wálle 8. sewailye I. ic̲h̲a
23. oowaloo 17. shawalh 14. asha
4. melahótch 12. sahwith´l 15. asa
20. -millajo, 13. sab̲il; 18. isá=“eagle”
(etsiyerre-)[338] (sawillch[339])
21. wĭrawídă 10. seguala 11. {issā,=“raven”
{ŭsă=“eagle”
(Gilbert)
24. wirrawir 19. wála 13_a_. shuh
17. wurawir; 23. tewalooeme 6. atsiyéra
(whīrrawhiuh[340])
16. erwirry 15. hewirwírr 7.{cheeyura
{achiéra (Gibbs)
15. -awirr 24. wirrawir 9. achiyěra =
(hewichitt-) “small birds”
8. eyerk 21. apa-quirrh= 17_b_. cheeyara
“tail feather”
I. ic̲h̲quan 18.{wálle 20. etsiyerre
{mûséma=“quills”
II. goumó 20. -ěěmist 5. teseyérekopaí
(etsiyerre-)
26. wŭrrawŭrra 2. mata 23. kewalo
I. ic̲h̲quan 4. e-yê´rk
II. nhamba 8. noosquivira
16. sohmay 10. kipay sharwattěl[341]
26. limith II. kabto
13_b_. ahermá
16. sohquiah (i in like)
24. sepa
[338] In 20 _etsiyerre_ signifies “bird”.
[339] From Bartlett’s Kutchan or Yuma Vocabulary, MS.
[340] From Parker’s San Tomas Mission Vocabulary, MS. 1876.
[341] This was rendered, “A white feather worn in the scalp”; in
Parker’s San Tomas record _tŭschalaiemiss_ is given for “feather”, but
it is literally, “bird’s hair”.
The comparative list of names for “wing” in the Serian and the Yuman
languages exhibits no satisfactory evidence of a genetic relationship
between the collated vocables; in like manner there is no phonetic
accordance whatever between the terms denoting “feather” in the two
groups of words. It seems evident, however, that several of the Yuman
words for “wing” and “feather” are phonetically mimetic onomatopes;
compare _whirrawhiuh_ (17) from Mr Parker’s San Tomas Mission
Vocabulary, which is evidently an imitative word for the sound made by
the wings of a bird (for example, of the California quail) in rapid
motion.
In the collated schedule of names for “bird” there is lacking any
phonetic accordances indicative of linguistic relationship between the
languages compared.
SERIAN
Bone Leg
A. míttag (like German “mittag”) A. attân attâqklem=“thigh”
B. hrehiták B. itahom
C. ittak C. {hitaχom=“thigh”
{hippeχl=“leg”
D. D.
YUMAN
15. âk 2. uata (Loew)
impadi (White)
24. ak 1. mópada
24_a_. ák 11. mupata (Renshawe)
25. āk 19. mpáda
26_a_. ak 6. methílya
I. hak 7. {methilya (Gibbs)=“thigh”
{meemay meethilya (?)=“upper
{ leg”
23. ẖak 10. methil
27. hăk 20. emé
17. ok 23. eme
26_b_. n’yak 21. emmí
18. chiyä´ka
21. tciáka
4. escháques
7. n’eahsárk (Mowry) 17. mee
5. shaaks 13. memae
13. yoosak 12. meesith’l
8. inyesake 15. emílye
20. ndchashácq’ 4. emistilísh
10. tiága 3. imyliwhy
19. tiága 16. ewhitl
6. uániga 14. iuilgh
3. namsail 24. enyi-wílch
2. kuévata 18. thimuwála
7. esal-hiwa (Gibbs) 5. eskarowísh
II. acheso (Spanish?) 8. enesaquiwere
16. micashsho 9. himetca-áma=“upper legs”
11. siminoho (Gilbert)
I. ma-nyak
II. gelelepi
IV. agannapaho (cf. “foot”)
An examination of the several names for “bone” in the two groups of
terms from the Seri and the Yuman tongues in the comparative list above
reveals no trustworthy evidence of linguistic relationship between the
two groups.
The same want of agreement between the two groups of terms purporting
to denote “leg” in the Serian and the Yuman languages is manifest in
the foregoing comparative list.
SERIAN
_Blood_ _Red_
A. á-it A. ka-ailqt
B. âv’t B. ke-vilch
C. av̌at C. kēveχ´l
D. D. kebls
YUMAN
9. ahwátam 22. guate
16. ahwhat 9. awhát
21. awhát 16. h’what
12. awhút (Comoyei) 21. awhátěk
25. ă-whŭt 12. achawhut
26. a-whăt 25. whŭt
14. akhoat 26. whŭt
6. neghoata 14. khoat
10. tigval 6. aghóathum
23. t-quat 10. kokhoát
15. h’wat 23. oo-qual
13. ẖwat (ẖ=χ) 15. h’wát
17. ẖwat 13. ẖwat
18. hwat 17. ẖwat
19. hwát 18. chěhwáta
11. hwă´tigă 19. ahuáti
2_a_. hŭata 27. ěwhŭt
3. inuwhal 2_a_. awáti
8. nichwarte 8. awhát
7. n’yawhart (Mowry) 7. itchahhoata (Mowry)
20. niejuít (j=χ´) 20. cuicávojuít
7. yahwata (Gibbs) 7. echahuáta (Gibbs)
2_b_. kŭalayŭ 2_b_. kalyo
4. ehivetch 4. hivet
5. hiχwítsh 5. χwíttcem; gwíttem
I. huat I. mac̲h̲c̲h̲uang (=maχχuang)
IV. jueta II. mocao
II. jued IV. mokó
At first glance there seems to be some degree of relationship between
the groups of terms signifying “blood” and “red” in the Serian and the
Yuman tongues. But a discriminating examination of the words of the two
collated lists seems to lead to the contrary conclusion.
It may be well to note that the difference between the Serian vocables
denoting “blood” and those signifying “red” is that the latter have
a prefixed _kă-_ or _kě-_ sound, in this resembling most other
attributive terms in the language. This _kă_ or _kě_ is probably a
pronominative element. The Seri forms of the name for “blood,” however,
have no initial guttural prefix, and, owing to the lack of historical
evidence, it is not possible to declare that the Seri word, as compared
with the Yuman terms, has lost an initial guttural aspirate, which is
apparently genetic in the Yuman words, as it is present in 27 of the
28 variants of the Diegueño (14) _khoat_ and Mohave (9) _ahwat_ cited
in the list. This is emphasized by the fact that the guttural aspirate
remains unchanged whether the term denotes “blood” or, metaphorically,
“red”. The Yuman word apparently has no distinctively adjective or
attributive form. This is evidently in direct contrast with the Seri
word, in which the attributive form is initially and terminally
different from the form of the word employed as the name for “blood”.
These considerations strongly militate against the assumed linguistic
relationship between the Serian terms denoting, concretely, “blood”,
and, metaphorically, “red”, on the one hand, and the Yuman vocables of
like signification on the other.
SERIAN
_Yellow_
(_brown_) _Green_ _Black_ _Blue_
A. {móssol^{qt} kóil^{qlh} kópolt kóil^{qlh}
{komassolt
(brown)
B. k´másol kovilch kopolcht válch-kopolch
C. kmassol̃χ´ kovül̃χ´; kopoχ´l (dark) kovül̃χ´
χpanams
D. kmozol kobslh jikopohl
(darkness)
(j=χ)
YUMAN
_Yellow_
(_brown_) _Green_ _Black_ _Blue_
I. simarai manac̲h̲ui ic̲h̲c̲h̲ara c̲h̲angmangc̲h̲uiai
II. yembil mosoo akal
2. kŭase ilvi nya aveshŭve
4. aques hashamelavî´k mîlk habashû´ck
5. kwíssem verrevèrs nyílk χaweshúk
6. agoathum havesug vanilgh havasug
7. {okwarthi {havasook {whenyaeelkh {havasook
(Mowry)
{akwátha {amatk {hwainyēlk {havasóke
(Gibbs)
8. akwahum timahóchi naailk avisuk
9. akwátha habasó hwanyilý habasó
10. agoathega nyágh ashuuga
12. aquesque atsowoo surche quimele; hawoo surche
13. quas h̲b̲soo nyil h̲b̲soo
14. akhoas kaposhu nilgh kaposhu
15. quas h’pashu qu’n’ylch h’pashu
17. quos ẖpshoo ny̲il h’pashoo
16. quass quass netl hupshu
18. akwátha haběsúwi nyä´chi; nyä haběsúwi
19. kuáthi kuáthi iniä´ havěshúvi
20. accuésque jabashúc ñiellgue m’mai; m’mai
cojoshuñiá
21. aquássŭk aquás hapíli habĭshú
22. akwátha gawesúwe nyátie gavesúwe
23. koosai emelsoo nyeg emelsoo
24. ahapeshu qu’nilch ahapeshú
These comparative schedules of color-names denoting “yellow or brown”,
“green”, “black, darkness”, and “blue”, collated from the Serian and
the Yuman languages, exhibit no phonetic accordances which would be
indicative of linguistic kinship between the two groups of languages
compared.
It may be of some interest to remark here that the only dialect among
the large number compared above that employs the term “sky” for blue is
the M’mat (20); in this dialect _m’mái_ signifies “sky”, while _m’mái_
or _m´mai-cojoshuñiá_ (literally, “sky color”) denotes “blue”.
SERIAN
_White_ _Old_ _Young_
A. kó`poˡ kma`kōk (man) sepía` (man)
kŭnkai´e (woman)
B. kôpcht ikomákolch siip
C. kohoχp
D. {kmakoj (man) sip; psip=“boy”
{konkabre (woman)
YUMAN
I. tipyc̲h̲e oosing wanju
(tipyχ´e)
II. calá acusó
{whanu=“child,
young one”
IV. gala {wakna, misprint for
{wáhna (Laymon)
2. n’shava velhé (Laymon) ba (Laymon)
4. hemaál kuraácks homarsh
{kureáks (man)
5. χemálye {akoís (woman) meχaís
6. nimesam kvoraaga ipa
7.{n’ymahsava (Mowry) {kwirirark (Mowry) {mess-ser-haik (Mowry)
{n’yamasába (Gibbs) {kwarraák (Gibbs) {messerháik (Gibbs)
8. yimeusava quaráki issintaie=“one”
{kwadaä´k (man)
9. nyamasába {kwakuyá (woman) maháia (man)
{atatayútca=“ancestors”
10. nimesav patáiga heméiga
11. {pagataíya (Gilbert)= {hamě´ (Gilbert)=
{ “young man” { “young man, boy”
{kamûdûmû (Gilbert)= {mŭmsĭ (Gilbert)=
{ “young woman” { “young woman, girl”
12. hamarlk
13. hmal koorchak amahai
14. nomosháb umáu itmam
15. yem’súp quirruck ikutkuspírr
16. nemschap qurruk quomiek
17. eemschap koorak quel
18. nyuměsábi {bělhéi (man)
{kûmûhwĭ´dûmûr (woman)
19. niměsáva
20. jamallgue curaácca (man) iepac
21. ĭmĭcápa {pělhé (man) pahŭrmŭ´rrě
{pakí (woman) hatcě´n (woman)
22. nyemesáwe
23. umesap pahtai pakookeechap
24. ném’shap querak quenacui (woman)
24_a_. nĭr-mishăh korák {hequál (man)
{hatcĭ´n (woman)
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXXIX
THE DO-GÍÄGYÄ-GÚĂT OR TIPI OF BATTLE PICTURES]
The group of Serian names for the color “white” have no phonetic
accordances with the collated Yuman terms of like meaning.
Of the compared groups of Serian and Yuman names for “old” and “young”
it may be well to remark that in both some of the terms recorded mean
simply “man”, “woman”, without regard to age, or “large, great man”
(Seri A, B, D, and Yuman 6, 9, 10, 21, 23, 24. In number 21 _paki_
signifies simply “woman”, regardless of age. Yuman number 8 signifies
“one”, not “young”). This cursory comment shows how untrustworthy
much of this material is. It is evident that there is here no proof
of genetic linguistic relationship between the Seri and the Yuman
languages.
SERIAN
_Great, large_ _Small_ _Good_ _Bad, ill_
A. -gehkpa
B. kakkolch kipk’ha kîpi homîip; miph’la
C. kakkoχ´ {kip’χχa;
{kissilχ´ χeppe χ’omipla (kmipl̃a,
“bitter”)
D. kakoj
YUMAN
I. c̲h̲ai,(=χ´ai) ac̲h̲tawan taip taipena
(=aχá´tawan),
“young”
II. cáokoo cánil ahámi aminllí
(=amiñyi)
IV. ká (Laymon) {ami
{tahipo}(Laymon) {ambiñyi
{tahipe} {may (Laymon)
2. {vete (Laymon); {khane
{ bite gatye {ahónni kalyeve
4. otía n’yokek hoátk’ nyoymik
5. wetáym nokík χotk nyomík
6. vataim itáuk akhotk alaik
{veltakík
{ (Mowry) {anchoik {ahhoteka {munnaik
7. {meltaim (Gibbs) { { {
{hōmmék=“tall” {hitáuk {ahōt’k {elhōtmuk; elláik
8. h’watai echitawa epache-hoti= pipach-ilhotim=
“good men” “bad men”
9. veltáia; ohumik hitchaúwa ahót alai
=“tall”
10. vatega ketiga akhánega hianomaga
12. oteique onoc oque ahotekah; ahotk haloolk
13. btek qunnuk ẖanna enoimi
14. igu iltik khan ikútsikhlitch
15. aquacktàiye el mâam h’hun w’hlitch
17. quotai leepist mooẖoi oorap
16. attih el marm k’hun witlitch
18. taya; ta; kě´chi háni, hánikûm kalěpi
hěmí
19. táyake; věté kitie háne χ´ělé´pě
20. bettáic n’noc ajótk l’láic
22. weté kétye hané helépe
23. etai mootit mgai hoogloi
24. ecúy halyemuck quahan qual-hitch
In the comparison of the adjectives “great, large” there is a single
apparent accordance between the two groups, and that is between
the Cochimi _cáokoo_ and the several Serian terms. The Laymon form
indicates that the stem is _ka_ or _cá_; but an analysis of the Serian
words shows that _kolch_, _koχ´_ or _koj_ (for _koχ´_) is their base,
the initial _ka_ being merely a pronominative, as may be seen from an
inspection of the compared lists of attributives or adjective elements
in the Seri groups, including the color-names. Now, Mr Bartlett writes
in the same list with _cáokoo_, _calka_, “a lake” = “water, large”,
accenting the _cá_, “great, large”; and his “small” is _cá-ñil_=“great
not”.
Comparing Dr Gabb’s _χai_, “great, large”, and _ka_ or _cá_, on the
one hand, with the Kiliwee ko_otai_ and _kute_ in _sal-kootai_ and
_pah-kute_, “thumb” or “large finger”, and “chief” or “large, great
man”, and with the Kiliwee _etai_, “great, large” on the other, it
becomes evident that _cá_ is a curtailed form of _kootai_ (_kute_), as
_etai_ is. The _cáokoo_ of Mr Bartlett evidently signifies something
more than “large, great”; it may possibly mean “large house”—i. e.,
_cáuaka_, or “large earth, ground”—i. e., _cáakug_, or it may be a
cognate of Gabb’s _eχkaikang_, “high mountain”. But nevertheless its
derivation has been demonstrated so as to show that it has nothing in
common with Serian terms.
There is likewise no phonetic relationship between the Serian and the
Yuman words denoting “small”, and this is also true of those signifying
“good”, “bad”, and “ill”. These four comparative lists then show no
genetic relationship.
SERIAN
_Water_ _Die, dead_ _Wood, tree_
A. ak`, hak` -amŭkŭk ahká-uhkă=“firewood”
B. ache (=aχ´`) kochhe {akáhoke=“wood”
{eaomtkite
C. aχ´ (aχ´) {ikoχχe=“die” {akaχχ´ŭkŭă=“wood”
{χuaχχ´e=“dead” {ehe=“a stock, palo”
D. ahj (ahχ´) ehe=“arbol”
YUMAN
I.{kaχ´- (in {wac̲h̲e=“tree”
{ kac̲h̲para, epè {aput=“wood”
{ “sea”)
{tasi; desi=
“to drink”
II. cal ybitá allegcó=“wood”
IV. kahal; kalal (?) ibi; yibi
(Laymon)
1. ahá, aháa epíga
2. aha nevaye; bi=“dead” i-i=“tree, wood”
{ihu=“tree”
3. niluwhet; hahaw’l {inalch=“shrub”
{iya=“wood”
4. háche epúik (ipáik=“alive”) {emabatách=“tree”
{eeêche=“wood”
5. χá epúïk {teísh=“tree”
{iísh=“wood”
6. akha ipuik aí=“tree”
7. {ahá {hippooik=“dead” {ahah=“cottonwood”
{ákhha (Gibbs) {hippóik (Gibbs) {ahee; a-í=“wood” (Gibbs)
8. ahá ichichiwoche=“tree”
a-í=“wood”
9. aha hipúik ahaá=“tree”; aí=“wood”
10. aháa apíge iíe=“tree”
11. ha haigopiga (Gilbert)
12. ahá éeesh=“tree”
e-ee; e-eetch=“wood”
13. ẖa (=χa) puik eekwsen; ee=“wood”
14. akha meley akhakunau; il=“wood”
15. h’ha mispà ilye; sin’yauquatài=“tree”
16. ahah mispah e-ee; e-ee=“wood”
17. ha (=χa) m’s’pa oochoẖ; ee=“wood, pine”
18. ahá, ha pih iíh
19. áha, há bihi; bi; pi ivi; i-i=“wood”
20. já (χ´a) opúic eí=“wood” and “tree”
21. ahá ipapí ii, akiŭl; iiruba=“wood”
22. aha hepi
23. aẖa (=aχa) paspi ẖaipak
24. ah’há mesapá ily=“tree”
All the Serian words denoting “water” are monosyllabic and terminate
with the k-sound or aspirated guttural χ, followed by the breath
instant (to which the final e of Mr Bartlett’s orthography is
equivalent). On the other hand, the vocables of the Yuman group of
dialects invariably end in a vowel or a double vowel, and, in 24 out of
31 given forms, they are dissyllabic, several being trisyllabic. The
Laymon form of the term is evidently the least affected by use, and
jointly with the words numbered 5, 6, 7 (Gibbs), 13, 14, 17, and 23,
shows the genetic character of the terminal vowel in the given words.
These considerations render it probable that the apparently radical
resemblance of the collated words is fortuitous and not at all genetic.
In the Serian list of names for “wood” two different words are given,
and a third occurs meaning “tree”, perhaps “shrub”. This third word,
_ehe_, is very probably an exotic in the list, and is seemingly of
Yuman origin, through its substitution by a Yuman-speaking interpreter
for the proper Seri word. The correct term is probably contained in
the other word given, _ahkáuhkă_, “firewood” (McGee); _a-ká-hoke_,
“wood” (Bartlett); _akaχχ´ŭkŭŭ_, “wood”, Spanish “leña” (Pinart). The
base of the word is evidently _ahka_, _a-ka_, or _aka_, signifying
“wood”, while _uhka_, _hoke_, or _χχ´ŭkŭě_, is the attributive, meaning
“dead” (compare _ikoχχe_, “to die”, _χuaχχ´e_, “dead”, _kochhe_,
“dead”). Hence, the compound signifies “dead wood” or “dead timber”,
and the correct Seri word for “wood” is very probably _ahka_, or
_aka_. In giving the names of the time periods M Pinart records an
expression that confirms the foregoing analysis. The word in question
_koneheχkŭě ishshaχ´_, which signifies the month in which “se seca el
pasto”—i. e., the month “the grass dries, becomes sere”. Now, the
element, _heχkŭě_ is evidently identical with _χχ´ŭkŭă_ above, and this
rendering should be “the month the grass dies”. Thus it would seem
that the term _ehe_, not being a native Seri word, does not serve to
establish relationship with the Yuman.
The compared list of the Serian and the Yuman vocables purporting to
denote “die, dead”, show no tokens of relationship.
SERIAN
_Sky_ (_the heavens_) _Rain_ (_cloud_)
A. {a-mě´m-ma {khópka=“rain”; oká^{lt}ta=“cloud”
{a-měm-ma kwŭ-ĭ´k-pok
{a-měm-ma kŭm-ŭn-kewt-na= {kŭthla=“fog”
“horizon”
B. a-mî-me ip´kakaokuk=“heavy rain” (?)
C. amimme=“sky, heaven” {hipka=“rain, shower”
{χoopka=“it is raining”
{okala kχuauom=“it is cloudy”
D. ammime {ipka=“rain”
{okaxla=“cloud”
YUMAN
21. akwarra bóka
8. iqui kowawakochain
2. o´kve okenedia kivo; kiva, kiwa
3. ama haishunat
24. amâi equi
13. amai k´wus
9. amáia kubaúk; kubaugě=“it is raining”
12. ammai muhheé; ikwi=“cloud”
10. amayaá kivvoga
6. amaya kovauk
1. hámasia=“heavens” ékwi mädshiga
23. emmai quicha
I. embai
15. mâi paou
16. mai (i in like) pow
17. mai qui
4. mâiche oaûk
5. maish
14. may ikvny
11. maya (Renshawe) kw´voga
20. mmái obáuc
22. meya
11. miyá (Gilbert)
7. {ummmayya {coolowwa; hobauk (Yuma)
{ummáia {kobauk
18. ûmiyä´ ikwiwó=“rain”; ikwí=“clouds”
19. ěkwi=“clouds”; tíwo=“rain”;
ekwariga=“the sky is cloudy”
While the seeming resemblance between the Yuman terms for “sky,
heaven”, and the Serian vocables of the same meaning is more
apparent than real, yet the kinship of the Seri with the Yuman group
of languages has been conjectured upon data of which this merely
fortuitous similarity was made a factor.
The derivation of the characteristic Yuman term _amai_, the variants
of which constitute, with the exception of three vocables, the entire
list here compared, is evidently from the stem of the Mohave _amail_,
“above, on top”, _amaile_, “higher”, the Yavapai _miävi_, “up”, and
also the Yuma (Bennett’s MS.), _amiki_, “over”. In the number-names,
such as those for “eleven” and “twelve”, this vocable becomes _maik_
and _maga_ in Maricopa, in Bartlett’s Coco-Maricopa, and in Cochimi,
and _maike_ in Hummockhave, _amike_ in Yuma (Bennett’s MS.), _umaiga_
and _umai_ in M’mat, _amaik_ in Mohave (Gibbs), _mae_ in Kutchan,
_amaik_ in Kutchan (Englehardt), _emmia_ in Santa Catalina; in all the
number-names in which these variants occur they have a single meaning,
namely, “above, over, on top, added to, plus”. Thus it is evident that
the Yuman variants of _amai_, “sky, the heavens”, are cognate with the
auxiliaries or flexions of number-names cited above. Hence, originally
the Yuman concept of the “sky” was “the place above, the higher place,
or the place on top”.
The derivation of the Seri vocable _amime_ or _aměmma_, “sky, the
heavens”, while bearing only a fortuitous resemblance to the Yuman
terms noted above, is not traceable from the meager material at
present accessible. Strictly speaking, the extent of the phonetic
similarity between the Yuman and the Seri vocable is the possession of
an _m-_sound in the first syllable, which is evidently the dominant
one in the Yuman terms. On the other hand, the Serian vocable has two
syllables dominated by the _m-_sound, and the foregoing explanation of
the derivation of the Yuman vocable, if correct, as it seems to be,
does not supply any means for explaining this duality of syllables
dominated by an _m-_sound in the Serian term. For unlike the Yuman
dialects of the present the Seri tongue does not duplicate the stem of
a word or any part thereof for any purpose whatsoever (though in the
past the Seri may or may not have had the duplicative process, for a
language can not only do what it is accustomed to do, but may at all
times acquire new habits). So it would seem that without historical
evidence to support it this comparison is invalid as an indication of
linguistic kinship between the vocables compared, and its evidence
regarding the conjectured relationship of the two groups of languages
is negative.
SERIAN
_Sun_ _Moon_ _Fire_ _Earth_
A. sěáh^k esschah^k a`má`kă ŭmmt; e`k=“dust”
B. schra isah amakinoch am’t
C. shaa ishshaχ´ amak {ashamt=“clay, adobe”
{hamt=“the earth”
D. rahj; tahj amak ampte
YUMAN
_Sun_ _Moon_ _Fire_ _Earth_
I. epan̲g̲ konga maahra ēmat
II. ybo kaglimbák usi akug
III. ibo
IV. ibo; ibunga gamma; usi amet; ammet
(Laymon) ganehmajen
1. inyáa häláa oóo
2. nyá h´lá; hallá hoo; weya mata
(White) (White)
3. inugh hailiyugh eya; ahi muat
4. enn´yache halyáche n´yakiém máche
5. nyas χilás; χalásh ahaus mát
6. anyá halyá aáua amata
7.{unya {huala {ahowwa {amata
{u̲nyá (Gibbs) {hálla (Gibbs) {aáuwa {am-má-ta (Gibbs)
(Gibbs)
8. anya halya chiwaswe á-i
9. anyá hálya aáuwa amat; tciáma
10. inyaá halá a tuga mat
11. nya (Gilbert) hla (Gilbert) otoga
(Gilbert)
12. m’yatche huth’lya; hullyar aáwo ōmut
amáth (Bennett)
13. ẖuya; hnya? ẖalla ow a-má-ta
14. inyá khilshiá áua mat
15. n’ya hulchyá aáou mut
16. enyah hutl’yah quu mut
17. nya h’kla matuanap mot
18. nyä halá oóh mat; amát; máte
19. nyávi; nyá ’láwe; ’lá óo amat; mata
20. nyá jellá aáu h’mát
21. n’ya hŭllá âá; itshi= mät
“coals”
22. enya halá ohó
23. eñai ẖala aau omot
24. enn’yachipáp helchhyá aáou umát
The comparative schedules of the Serian names for “sun” and “moon”
exhibit no phonetic evidence of genetic relationship with the collated
lists of Yuman vocables of like import.
Between the Serian names for “fire” and the Yuman terms of like import
there is no phonetic accordance indicative of glottologic kinship.
It has been supposed, and not without a measure of possibility,
that a radical relationship exists between the Serian and the Yuman
words denoting “earth”. The supposition rests on the approximate
phonetic accordance of two consonants occurring in these terms, quite
regardless of the vowel sounds that render them intelligible. The four
Seri authorities are in close accord in not hearing and recording a
vowel sound between the _m_ and the following _t_. This final _t_
is apparently explosive, indicated by Mr Bartlett with a prefixed
apostrophe and by Sr Tenochio with an _e_, whose final position would
make it faint. The initial _h_ of the record of M Pinart is very
probably due to the Yuman-speaking interpreter. Now, in the 26 forms
of the Yuman word here collated the vowel intervening between the _m_
and _t_ of the Yuman vocable is strong and characteristic, and in 11
instances it is accented. While the Seri forms are monosyllables, 17
of the 28 Yuman examples are dissyllabic and 3 are trisyllables. The
Cocopa _muat_ indicates the persistency of the medial vowel. These
differences, admittedly but poorly indicated by the faulty alphabets
employed by the several word collectors, are important and significant;
were the several terms here compared faithfully recorded as spoken, by
means of a discriminative phonetic alphabet, it seems probable that
these literal accordances, in view of the marked differences noted
above, would disappear. So in the absence of historical evidence of
the genetic relationship of the Serian and the Yuman words denoting
“earth”, it seems best to regard this literal accordance as fortuitous
rather than real or genetic.
SERIAN
_Dog_ _Coyote_ _Wolf_
A.
B. achks hashokévlch.=“red hasho”
C. aχ´sh vootth χ´ekkos
D. boot
PIMAN
_Dog_ _Coyote_ _Wolf_
a. cox (Pima, White) serr
b. yocsi (Nevome) vana suhi
c. koks (Pima) pan
d. kocks (Opata) guo
YUMAN
I. ethatta etadwachetibawaha (etadwachetibawaha)
II. masa
1. uhát kathâ´t
2. tsata kethuda mbá
3. cowwaick
4. hatch hatakúltis
5. χát χatelwís; χatelwísh χattekúltis
6. akhatchora kuksara
7.{hotchóuk hooktharu
{hatchóka (Gibbs) hūkthara (Gibbs)
8. hachochoke hookhare
9. hattcâka (pl. hukçára
hattcâktca)
10. akhat gesat
11. hot; aha (Renshawe) kthat; cathă´t (Renshawe)
12. hoowée
13. aẖatchookachook aẖateleeway
14. khat
15. h’hút hutch’kôlk
16. hotchukchuk hutchpah
17. aẖot aẖotoopai
18. kuthá’rt kuthá’rt hána
19. katháta nimmîta (nimiwi)
20. jatsocsóc jatelué
21. a`hat; ahŭt
22. kehér
23. itat milti latkil
24. h’hut h’takulch
huwi. (Kutchan,
Bartlett)
The comparative list of names for “dog” shows that the Seri term was
very probably adopted from the Piman group of tongues, and there is
therefore no apparent relation between the Serian and the Yuman terms.
The Serian name for “coyote” shows no kinship with the Yuman names for
this animal.
The Serian names for “wolf”, _χ´ekkos_ and _hasho-kévlch_ (=“red
hasho”), show no apparent linguistic relationship to the Yuman names
for this animal. It is possible that the Serian terms have some
affinity to the Piman terms for “dog” and “wolf”.
Notwithstanding the unqualified conclusion of Herr J. C. E. Buschmann
as to the separateness of the Waïcuri (Guaicuri), the late Dr Daniel
G. Brinton, in positive terms, though from adverse evidence deduced
from precarious data, included this and the Seri tongue in the Yuman
stock of languages. Speaking of a comparative list of words specially
selected from the Cochimi, Waïcuri, Seri, and Yuma, he says: “The
above vocabularies illustrate the extension of the Yuman stock to
the southward. The Cochimi and Waïcuri are remote dialects, but of
positive affinities.”[342] Yet of seven terms selected by him from
the Waïcuri to prove these “positive affinities” not one has any
phonetic accordance with the term with which it is compared. This, it
would seem, should have sufficed to eliminate the Waīcuri from the
Yuman stock. Pending further research, this language should stand
independently.
[342] The American Race, p. 335.
Of the conjectured glottologic kinship of the Seri to the Yuman
stock Dr Brinton says:[343] “The relationship of the dialect to the
Yuman stock is evident.” Yet out of twenty-one terms which he chose
to exhibit the grounds of his faith only six (those for “tongue”,
“eye”, “head”, “water”, “man”, and “teeth”) show any definite phonetic
resemblance. This number, however, can certainly be reduced by careful
scrutiny. Thus, he cites the Laymon and Cochimi _tamá_ as a cognate of
the Seri _eketam_. The Laymon and Cochimi term, it must be remembered,
does not occur in this form in a single other tongue admittedly Yuman.
Now, before this vague resemblance can establish relationship it
must first be shown that the terms compared have a common linguistic
tradition and that a form of _tamá_ is or has been an element common to
the other dialects of the Yuman group. But an analysis of the Cochimi
term shows no trustworthy ground for considering these terms related.
So this certainly reduces the number of conjectured accordances to five.
[343] Loc. cit.
Comparison is made by Dr Brinton between the Serian _ata´st_ (_îtast_,
_hitast_), “tooth” and “teeth” (collectively), and the vocable _ehdoh_
(Lieutenant Bergland’s), “tooth”, variants of which are common to
only three of the twenty-odd Yuman dialects. He made this comparison
evidently under the impression that the first part of the Seri term
_ata´st_ (_itast_, _hitast_) signifies “tooth”. But such is not the
fact. The first part of this Seri vocable signifies “mouth” (as may be
seen in the discussion of the comparative list of names for “tooth”)
and the latter part “stone”. The term _îtast_, “tooth”, is, therefore,
literally “stone of the mouth”. This is certainly not the signification
of the Yuman terms, and so the comparison is invalid, and the number
of apparent accordances is reduced to four. By some oversight it seems
Dr Brinton omitted from this comparison the Cochimi _hastaá_, “tooth”;
but this collocation has been made by others. Now, this term _hastaá_
belongs exclusively to the Cochimi dialect, and before becoming a means
of comparison would have to be shown to be a vocable common to the body
of Yuman terms having a common linguistic tradition, which has not been
done. Moreover, the phonetic obstacles barring a way to a fruitful
comparison of this term with the Serian are quite insuperable—the
assumed loss of the first half of the Seri term, the acquirement by the
Cochimi of the initial _h_ sound and of the final accented syllables
_-aá_, or the converse process. This, it seems safe to say, renders
this comparison likewise invalid.
The Seri term _in[=tl]ash_, “hand”, has certainly no phonetic
accordance with the peculiar Yuman _israhl_, which is from the Yuma or
Kutchan record of Lieutenant Eric Bergland, nor, indeed, has it any
accordance with any other Yuman term for hand. The presence of the
_r_ sound in it supplies the peculiar feature of the term; but it may
be used only to lengthen the following vowel (though this is only an
assumption). This form is peculiar because there is none like it in
about thirty Yuma vocabularies, representing about twenty dialects, in
the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A careful inspection
of the comparative list of the Seri and the Yuman names for “arm”,
“hand”, “finger”, “thumb”, and “fingernail” will demonstrate the
utter futility of the comparison under consideration, for there is no
accordance between the Seri and the Yuman terms.
Elsewhere herein, in discussing the terms for “head” and “hair”, “eye”,
“tongue”, and “water”, it is shown that there is no apparent linguistic
relationship between the Serian terms on the one hand and the Yuman
on the other, and those explanations dissipate entirely the suspected
accordances of Dr Brinton.
Index
A
Adelphiarchy, characters of, 276*
Adelphogamy, traces of, among Seri, 281*, 283*
Adoption among Seri, 277*-279*
African archery posture, 201*, 202*
Agave fiber, Seri use of, in making rope, 228*-230*
Ahst, definition of, 234*-235*
, specimens of, 235*-238*
Alarcon, Hernando de, explorations by, 53
Alcaraz, Diego de, attack on Seri (?) by, 54-55
Alegre, F. J., on Escalante's expedition, 61
, on Parilla's "extermination", 73-74
, on Seri habitat and tribal divisions, 78
, on Seri navigation, 61
Aliens, Seri antipathy for, 131*-132*, 154*-155*
Alvarez, Ruperto, aid rendered by, 14
Alvemar-Leon, Asturo, acknowledgments to, 13
, portrait of, 13
Andrade, Francisco, campaign against Seri by, 88-93
Angeles, location, duration, and size of, 69-71
Animals of Seriland, 36-39
Anton, aid rendered by, 14
Aquarian devices, Seri, 182*-186*
Aquatic life of Seriland, 38-39
Araiza, Victor, attack on Seri by, 88
Archery, Seri, 197*, 255*-256*
Archery implements, Seri, 198*-200*
Archery posture, African, 201*, 202*
, Seri, 200*-201*
, Von Bayer's photograph of, 106
Arellano, Tristan de, foundation of Corazones by, 53
Arm, Serian and Yuman names for, 330-332*
Arricivita, J. D., on Bernabe mission, 80, 81
, on Seri tribal relations, 82
Arrow, Seri, construction of, 197*-198*
, Seri, decoration of, 175*
, Seri, genesis of, 198*-199*
, Seri, relation to harpoon and fire-drill of, 198*-199*
, use of, 255*-256*
Arrowpoints, iron, of Seri, 247*-248*
, Seri, construction and attachment of, 198*
, stone, of Seri, 198*, 246*-247*
Arrowpoison, Seri, character of, 256*-259*
, travelers' accounts of, 54, 78, 87, 97, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105
Artifacts of Seri, classes of, 248*-249*
Asuncion, Juan de la, explorations by, 51
Autochthony of Seri, 12, 268*
Awls, Seri, 230*
B
Bad, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 337*-338*
Baegert, Jacob, map by, 66
on Californian food habits, 209*-212*
Balsa, Seri, characters and construction of, 10, 216*-221*
, Seri, decoration of, 173*
, Seri, methods of propulsion of, 219*
, Seri, Von Bayer's drawings of, 106
Bancroft, H. H., notes on Seri by, 104-105
on Escalante expedition, 61
Bandelier, Adolf, classification of Seri by, 108
, identifications by, 51, 52, 55, 56
Bartiromo, Melchor, mission work of, 61, 67
Bartlett, J. R. on Opata running, 125
on the Seri, 96-97
, Seri vocabulary collected by, 97-99, 296*, 299*
Basketry, Seri, characters of, 10, 208*-209*
, Seri, decoration of, 175*
Beacon-markings, definition of, 168*
Berger, aid rendered by, 13
Bernabe, Crisóstomo Gil de, establishment of mission by, 80-82
Biotic characters of Seri, 133*
Bird, Serian and Tuman names for, 332*-333*
Birds of Seriland, 37, 38
Black, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 335*-336*
Blood, Serian and Yuman names for, 297*, 334*-335*
Blood-craze, Seri, 188*, 203*-204*, 262*-263*, 265*
Blue, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 335*-336*
Boca Infierno, tides and currents in, 46-47
Body, responsivity of, 268*-269*
Bone, Serian and Yuman names for, 333*-334*
Bow, Seri, decoration of, 175*
, Seri, genesis and construction of, 199*, 200*
Brinton, D. G., classification of Seri and Waïkuri by, 108, 343*-344*
Brobdingnagians, possible originals of, 53-54
Brown, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 335*-336*
Buena y Alcalde, Mariano Antonio, plan for Seri mission by, 80
Building-chant, Seri, 223*-224*
Burden-bearing by Seri, 149*
Burros, Seri method of hunting, 204*-205*
Buschmann, J. C. E., classification of Seri by, 300*
, notes on Seri by, 99
C
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez, observations on Seri by, 51
Cabrera, Manuel, on Seri in Pueblo Seri, 88
Cacti of Seriland, 33-35
, Seri harvest of, 206*-208*
Candelaria, clan symbol of, 165*
, face-painting by, 166*
, portrait of, 164*
Cannibalism of Seri, 56, 117, 119
Capture, absence of, in Seri marriage, 285*
Carrizal, occurrence of, in Seriland, 36
, Seri use of, in balsa-making, 216*-217*
Cassanate, Pedro Portel de, expedition of, 57
Castillo, Anton, aid rendered by, 14
Cattle, Seri method of hunting, 204*-205*
Cemeteries of Seriland, 289*
Centralization of Seri body, 138*
Chance, influence of, on Seri life and mind, 266*, 267*-268*
Character of Seri, 83, 85, 92,95, 96-97, 100-101, 102, 103, 106
Charm-trophies, Seri, 259*-261*
Cheirization of Seri, 157*-158*
Chiefship among Seri, 275*-277*
Chipped stone implements in Seriland, scarcity of, 241*-242*,
246*-247*
Cimarrones-Migueletes war, record of, 83
Civilization, autonomy of, 176*-177*
Clams, Seri method of taking and eating, 195*
Clan organization, Seri, 10-11, 166*-167*, 168*-169*, 269*-274*
CLark, W. P. on Kiowa divisions, 22
Classification, of Serian stock, 127-128, 300*, 344*
Clavijero, F. J., on Californian food habits, 209*, 212*
Climate of Sonoran Province, 23-25
Clothing, genesis of, 231*-232*
, Seri, 10, 224*-232*
, Seri, decoration of, 171*-173*
Cloud, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 340*-341*
Cobbles, Seri use of, as tools and weapons, 234*-246*, 248*, 255*
Cocomaques, classification of, 102, 103, 104, 130*
Color of Seri, 137*-138*
Conceptual terms, Serian and Yuman, comparative analysis of,
321*-344*
Conde, Alejo Garcia, expedition sent against Seri by, 83
Conjugal conation, law of, as applied to Seri, 162*-163*
Consag, Ferdinando, explorations and map by, 65
Contrares, José, aid rendered by, 14
Cords, Seri, 227*-230*
Coronado, F. V., explorations by, 53-55
Corral, Ramón, acknowledgments to, 12, 14, 20
Cortez, José, on Seri, 83-84
Costa Rica, establishment of, 109
Coues, Elliott, on Kino's route, 60
on massacre at Caborca, 77
Covens, Jean, maps published by, 63-64
Coyote, Serian, Piman, and Yuman names for, 342*-343*
Crab, place of, in Seri dietary, 195*
Cradles, Seri, 226*, 227*
Cuervo, José Tienda de, campaign against Seri by, 75
Cunningham, ——, aid rendered by, 13
Cups, Seri, 185*-186*
Currents of Seri waters, 45-47
Cushing, F. H., acknowledgments to, 20
, on development of bow, 201*
, on meaning of calumet-tomahawk, 168*
, on stages of technic, 250*
, on Zuñi marriage customs, 286*
D
D'anville, ——, map by, 64
Dávila, F. T., on Hurdaide expedition, 55
on Seri population, 71
on Seri wars and raids, 79, 94
Dead, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 338*-340*
Dead, Seri treatment of, 11-12, 287*-295*
Death, Seri ideas concerning, 292*-293*
Decoration, Seri, 10, 164*-179*
, Seri, significance of, 176*-179*
, Seri, travelers' accounts of, 78, 101
Deer, Seri chase of, 196*
Defense, Seri methods of, 265*
Deformation of Seri bodies, 148*
Delisle, Guillaume, maps by, 56, 63, 64
De Mofras, Duflot, on Seri population, 87-88, 135*
Demotic characters of Seri, 10-12, 164*-344*
Desert, solidarity of life in, 32, 37
, solidarity, Seri failure to participate in, 133*
Desierto Encinas, features of, 39-41
De Witt, Fredericus, maps by, 56, 62
Dewey, George, explorations in Seriland by, 105-106, 200*-201*
, notes on Seri by, 106
Diaz, Melchior, explorations by, 54-55
Die, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 338*-340*
Dietary, Seri, estimate of, 214*-215*
Dinwiddie, William, acknowledgments to, 20
, work of, 13
Directive markings, discussion of, 167*-168*
Dishes, Seri, 185*-186*
Dog, Serian, Yuman and Piman names for, 297*, 342*-343*
Dominguez, ——, cited on establishment of post at Pitic, 72
Drinking-cups, Seri, 185*-186*
Ducks, Seri methods of catching, 191*
Dwellings, Seri, 221*-224*
, Seri, location of, 148*-149*
Earth, Serian and Yuman names for, 341*-342*
E
Egoism, Seri, 133*, 154*-155*
El Infiernillo, characters of, 45-47
Elizondo, Domingo, campaign against Seri by, 75
El Mudo, account of Porter-Johnson episode by, 121-122
Encinas, Anita, acknowledgments to, 20
Encinas, Pascual, acknowledgments to, 13, 14, 20
, effect on Seri of rule of, 114-115
, establishment of ranches by, 109, 113
, portrait of, 13
, relation to Seri of, 109-114, 277*, 278*
on Seri archery posture, 201*
on Seri bodily mutilations, 169*
on Seri population, 113, 135*
, visit to Seriland by, 111
, war with Seri by, 112
Environment, adjustment of Seri to, 157*-163*
, influence on Seri technic and mentality of, 266*, 268*-269*
, progressive freedom from, 295*
Escalante, Juan Bautista de, expeditions against Seri by, 60-61, 70
Escudero, D. J. A. de, on Seri, 93
Espence, Tomás, campaign against Seri by, 88-93
on Seri, 91-92
Esthetic, development, Seri, 164*-179*
motives, importance of, in human progress, 176*-179*
Estrafort, Guilermo, chart by, 69
Ethnogamy, characters of, 283*-287*
Examiner incident, history of, 117-120
Exploration, recent, in Seriland, 12-21
Eye, Serian and Yuman names for, 297*, 327*-328*
F
Face, Serian and Yuman names for, 327*-328*
Face-painting, Seri, apparatus for, 165*-166*
, Seri, designs of, 165*
, Seri, distribution of, 164*
, Seri, meaning of designs used in, 166*-169*
Family, Seri, regimentation of, 270*-274*
Fauna of Seriland, 36-39
Feather, Serian and Yuman names for, 332*-333*
Fetishes, Seri, 86-87, 185*, 259*-261*, 265*, 290*
Fictile ware, Seri, 182*-185*
Finger, Fingernail, Serian and Yuman names for, 330*-332*
Fire, Serian and Yuman names for, 341*-342*
, Seri concept of, 199*-200*
Firearms, Seri use of, 259*-261*
Fire-drill, Seri, meaning of name of, 199*-200*
, Seri, relation to arrow and harpoon of, 198*-199*
Fish, Seri methods of catching and eating, 193*-194*
Fleetness of Seri, 149*-152*
Flora of Seriland, 31-36
Fog-shrubbery of Seriland, 36
Food and food-getting, Seri, 9, 77, 91-92, 180*-215*
, classification of, 180*-181*
, Seri, estimated quantities of, 214*-215*
, Seri method of dividing, 272*-273*
Foot, Serian and Yuman names for, 328*-330*
Fort-sense, Seri lack of, 265*
Franciscan friars, advent into Sonora of, 79
, foundation of mission in Seriland by, 80-82
, records of Seri by, 82
Fronani, Emanuele, acknowledgments to, 21
Fruit, Seri consumption of, 206*-208*
Functional peculiarities of Seri body, 148*-163*
G
Gales of Seri waters, 47-49
Gallardo, José, on Seri language, 78
Game, Seri methods of killing, 196*-205*
Games, Seri, 10
Gatschet, A. S., classification of Serian family by, 108
on Pinart's visit to Seri, 106
Geology of Sonoran province, 26, 30-31
Gilg, Adan, shriving of Seri captives by, 60
Gillen, F. J., on Australian marriage customs, 285*
Good, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 337*-338*
Goode, G. B., acknowledgments to, 20
Government, Seri, 275*-277*
Grasses, of Seriland, 36
Great, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 337*-338*
Green, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 335*-336*
Guaymas, establishment of, 74
Guayma tribe, language and classification of, 96, 98, 99, 101, 102,
103, 104, 108, 130*
, synonymy of, 129*
Gulf of California, tides and currents of, 45-49
Guzman, Nuño de, explorations by, 51
Gyles, John, on Abnaki marriage customs, 282*
H
Habitat, Seri, 22-50
Hair, Seri, 139*-140*
, Serian and Yuman names for, 324*-327*
, Seri use of, in making cord, 227*-229*
Hair-dressing, Seri, 220*-227*
Hakluyt, R., on Ulloa's explorations, 52, 53
"Half-marriage", characters of, 285*
Hand, Serian and Yuman names for, 330*-332*
Handfasting, comparison of, with Seri marriage custom, 285*
Hands, Seri habitual use of, 152*-154*
Hardy, R. W. H., adoption of, among Seri, 277*-278*
, explorations in Seriland by, 85-86
, map by, 86
on Seri arrow-poisoning, 87
on Seri character, 85-87
on Seri decoration, 170*
on Seri fishing devices, 193*
on Seri marriage, 87
on Seri medicine-bag, 86-87
on Seri navigation, 86
on Seri physique, dress, and implements, 86
on Seri population, 135*
on Seri tribal relations, 87
on Seri turtle-fishing, 188*
Hare, chase of, by Seri, 196*-197*
Harpoon, Seri, iron points of, 247*-248*
, Seri, original point of, 190*
, Seri, relation to arrow and fire-drill of, 198*-199*
Head, Serian and Yuman names for, 297*, 324*-327*
Head-covering, absence of, among Seri, 225*
Heavens, Serian and Yuman names for, 340*-341*
Hermosillo, adoption of present name of, 84
, establishment of post on site of, 72
Herzog, Wilhelm, classification of Seri by, 108
Hewitt, J. N. B., acknowledgments to, 21
, comparative lexicology of Seri language by, 299*-344*
, translation of Onondaga mourning ritual by, 288*
Hilder, F. F., acknowledgments to, 20-21
History of Seri, 51-122
Hodge, F. W., acknowledgments to, 20
, identifications by, 53, 55
Horsehair, Seri use of, in making cord, 228*-229*
Horses, Seri method of hunting, 204*
Hough, Walter, on fire-making apparatus, 199*-200*
Houses of Seri, 221*-224*
of Seri, decoration of, 173*
of Seri, location of, 148*-149*
Hrdlička, Aleš, acknowledgments to, 21
, report on Seri skeletons by, 140*-147*
Humboldt, Alexander Von, map by, 84
, observations on Seri by, 84
Hunting, Seri methods of, 150*-151*, 201*-202*
Hupf, definition of, 234*-235*
, specimens of, 235*, 237*-245*
, type of, 245*-246*
, uses of, 238*-239*
Hurdaide, Diego Martinez de, explorations by, 55
Hydrography of Seriland, 28-30
of Sonoran province, 25-28, 31
I
Iaillot, H., map by, 63
Ibarra, Francisco de, explorations by, 55
Idobro, General, attempt to found Seri pueblo by, 72
Ill, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 337*-338*
Implements, Seri, 10, 187*, 189*, 193*, 197*-200*, 217*, 230*,
232*-254*
Indian, Serian and Yuman names for, 321*-324*
Industrial development, outline of, 249*-253*
Industries, Seri, 10, 180*-269*
Insects of Seriland, 37
Iron, Seri use of, for arrow and harpoon points, 187*, 189*, 198*,
247*-248*, 249*
Iroquois, mortuary customs of, 288*
Islas Patos, San Esteban, Tassne, and Turner, features of, 49
Isolation of Seri, 130*-134*, 154*-155*
Iturbi, Juan, expedition of, 56
J
Jacales, Seri, characters and construction of, 221*-224*
, Seri, decoration of, 173*
, Seri, location of, 148*-149*
Jecker & Co., survey attempted by, 99
Jesuits, advent in Sonora of, 57
, expulsion from Sonora of, 77
, influence on Seri of, 70, 72
, knowledge of Seri possessed by, 76, 79
, records of Seri by, 77-79
Johnson, W. D., acknowledgments to, 20
, aid rendered by, 14, 15
K
Kappus, M. A., a companion of Kino, 57
Kettles, Seri, 185*
Kilt, Seri, characters of, 224*-225*
, Seri, origin of, 231*-232*
Kindred, identification of, among Seri, 272*
Kino, Eusebio Francisco, explorations by, 57-60
, map by, 64
Kipling, Rudyard, on zoic concept of fire, 199*
Knife-sense, Seri lack of, 152*-153*, 206*
Kolusio, acknowledgments to, 14, 21
, connection with Señor Encinas of, 109
, description of, 98
, knowledge of Seri language possessed by, 99
, outlawry of, 113
, vocabularies given by, 95-96, 97-99, 102, 107, 296*
Kunkaak, meaning of, 121-126
Kwakiutl, marriage customs among, 286*
L
Langley, S. P., acknowledgments to, 20
Language, Guayma, notes on, 78, 96, 101
, Seri, 10, 78, 95-96, 97, 101, 102, 103, 104, 108, 296*-344*
Large, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 337*-338*
Lavandera, Diego, Seri vocabulary collected by, 95-96, 296*
Lawson, John, on Carolina Indian marriage customs, 282*-283*
Leal, Fernando, acknowledgments to, 20
Leg, Serian and Yuman names for, 333*-334*
Leon, Francisco Ponce de, campaign against Seri by, 88-93
Lewis, José, aid rendered by, 13
Lexicology, comparative, of Serian language, 299*-344*
Lizazoin, Tomás Ignacio, on Seri ravages, 75-76
Lozania, Ygnacio, aid rendered by, 14
, remembrance of Andrade-Espence expedition by, 92
on Seri charm-trophies, 260*
, portrait of, 13
Lubbock, Sir John, cited on primitive marriage 284*
Lumholtz, Carl, on Tarahumari running, 125
Lyons, W. J., aid rendered by, 14
, reported concession to, on Tiburon, 122
M
McGee, W J, memoir by, on Seri Indians 1-344*
McLennan, J. F., on primitive marriage, 284*
Maldonado, Rodriguez, explorations by, 53
Malte-Brun, V. A., classification of Seri by, 104
Man, Serian and Yuman names for, 321*-324*
Mange, Juan Mateo, account of Escalante's expeditions by, 60-61
, itinerary of Kino's explorations by 57-60
Manual development of Seri, 157*-158*
Maps of Gulf of California coast, 55-56, 62-66, 94
Mariana, aid rendered by, 14
Marine erosion on shores of Seriland, 45
Marlinspikes, Seri, 217*
Marriage customs Seri, 11, 87, 92, 158*, 279*-287*
, Seri, parallels to, 282*-283*
Mashém, acknowledgments to, 21
, clothing of, 115, 225*-226*
, early history of, 109
, information given by, 123, 134*, 135*, 169*, 201*, 213*, 256*,
257*, 270*, 281*, passim
, portraits of, 13, 146*
, rank of, 277*
, stature of, 137*
, vocabulary given by, 21, 296*
Matrons, prominence of, in Seri socialry, 269*-274*
, prominence of, in Seri funeral rites, 287*-292*
Maturity, Seri arrival at, 137*
Men, Seri, duties of, 273*-274*
Mendoza, Diego Hurtado de, explorations by, 51
Mendoza, Juan Antonio de, attacks on Seri by, 75
on Seri neglect of dead, 287*
Mesquite, occurrence of, in Seriland, 32
, Seri consumption of beans of, 207*
, Seri use of fiber of, in making rope, 228*-230*
Metal, Seri use of, 247*-248*, 249*
Metallic stage of technic, definition of, 253*
Miguel, aid rendered by, 14
Millard, S. C., aid rendered by, 14
Mind, responsivity of, 268*-269*
Missions, influence on Seri of, 76
Mitchell, J. W., acknowledgments to, 20
, work of, 14
Mitchell, S. W., acknowledgments to, 21
, examination of poisoned arrows by, 256*
Moll, Herman, map by, 56, 62
Monogamic character of Seri marriage, 285*
Moon, Serian and Yuman names for, 341*-342*
Mooney, James, acknowledgments to, 20
Morgan, L. H., on primitive marriage, 284*
Mortier, Corneille, maps published by, 63-64
Mortuary customs, Seri, 11-12, 212*-213*, 287*-295*
Mourning, among the Seri, 12, 292*
Mühlenpfordt, Eduard, map by, 66
, notes on Seri by, 94-95
Mutilation of Seri body, 169*-170*
Nacameri, location and duration of, 69-70
N
Nadal, Pedro, explorations by, 51
Nails, Seri use of, 154*
Names of Seri tribe, 9, 123-130*
Natural selection among Seri, 157*-159*
Navarro, Cayetano, attack on Seri by, 116
Navigation, Seri, 10, 49, 61, 67, 82, 106, 215*-221*
, Seri, effect on race of, 159*
of the Seri, 172*
Niza, Marcos de, explorations and observations by, 51-52
Noah's-ark, place of, in Seri dietary, 195*
Nomenclature of Seriland, 15-20
of Serian stock, 9, 123-130*
Noriega, Andrés, aid rendered by, 14
on Seri archery posture, 201*
on Seri charm-trophies, 260*
on Seri fishing devices, 193*-194*
on Seri neglect of dead, 287*
Norris, Hugh, aid rendered by, 14
Nose, Serian and Yuman names for, 324*-327*
Numerals, importance of, in linguistic classification, 300*-301*
, Serian and Yuman, comparative lists and analyses of, 303*-321*
O
Ober, F.A., photograph furnished by, 115
Och, Joseph, on Seri decoration, 78, 170*
Okatilla, Seri use of, in jacal-building, 221*
Old, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 336*-337*
Ollas, Indian, table of relative capacity of, 183*
, Seri, adaptation to function of, 184*
, Seri, character and capacity of, 182*-183*
, Seri, decoration of, 173*-175*
, Seri, method of manufacture of, 183*-184*
, Seri, method of using, 184*
Omada, Jesus, denunciation of Seri by, 116
Omaha, marriage customs of, 286*
Opata, swiftness of, 125
Orientation of Seri jacales, 222*
Orozco y Berra, Manuel, classification of Serian family by, 102-103
, map by, 103
, notes on Seri by, 103
Ortega, José, on Kino's explorations, 57
Ortiz, Anton, aid rendered by, 14
Otondo y Antillon, Isidro, expedition of, 57
, mountain named by, 63
Outlawry among Seri, 273*
Oyster, place of, in Seri dietary, 195*
P
Pajeken, Clemens A., notes on Seri by, 100-101
Paleolithic class of artifacts, discussion of, 252*
Papago, feeling of, concerning invasion of Seriland, 130*-131*
, installment of, as guards of Costa Rica, 120-121
, swiftness of, 126
, woman, capture and enslavement of, by Seri, 278*-279*
Papagueria, exploration in, 12
Parilla, Diego Ortiz, "extermination" of Seri by, 73-74
Pebbles, Seri, use of, as tools and weapons, 234*-246*, 248*, 255*
Pedestrian habit of Seri, 149*-152*, 157*
Pelican, Seri method of catching and eating, 190*-191*
, Seri use of skin of, in making clothing, 171*, 231*-232*
Peñafiel, Antonio, on Seri name, 95
People, Serian and Yuman names for, 321*-324*
Periodic conjugation, law of, 161*-162*
Physical characters, of Seri, 9, 86, 91, 100, 101, 102, 103, 133*,
136*-163*
Pimentel, Francisco, on meaning of name Seri, 95
, study of Seri language by, 101-102, 296*, 299*
Pinart, Alphonse L., study of Seri language by, 106-108, 296*, 299*
Pineda, Juan de, campaign against Seri by, 75
Pitahaya, occurence of, in Seriland, 34
Pitic, establishment of post at, 72
Plants of Seriland, 31-36
Polyandry, traces of, among Seri, 281*, 283*
Polygamy, among Seri, 11, 279*
Population, Seri, 71, 87, 95, 96, 100, 113, 134*-135*
Populo, location, duration, and size of, 69-71
Porpoise, place of, in Seri dietary, 193*
Porter-Johnson episode, account of, 121-122
Pottery of Seri, 10, 182*-185*
Powell, J.W., classification of Seri by, 108
Pownall, Governor, map by, 61
Precipitation in Sonoran province, 24-25
Prehistoric works of Seriland, 12
Pronominal elements, importance of, in linguistic classification,
300*-301*
Pronouns, Serian and Yuman, comparative lists of, 302*-303*
Property, Seri division of, 269*-270*, 272*-273*
Protolithic stage of technic defined, 251*, 252*
Pueblo Seri, brief history of, 93-94
, establishment of, 72-73
, Mexicanization of, 84
Q
Queretaro college, sending of friars to Sonora by, 79
R
Race-sense, Seri, 154*-155*, 160*-163*
Race-type, Seri, 160*
Rain, Serian and Yuman names for, 340*-341*
Ramirez, José F., classification of Seri by, 96
, Seri vocabulary studied by, 95-96, 296*
Ramusio, citation from collection of, 52
Red, Serian and Yuma words meaning, 334*-335*
Religion, Seri, 86-87, 92, 101, 102
Retio, José Maria, on Seri population, 87, 135*
Responsivity of mind and body, 268*-269*
Ribas, Andrés Perez de, on cannibalism among Mexican Indians, 56
on Seri, 56
on Seri population, 135*
Rio Bacuache, sketch of, 26-28
Rivera, Pedro de, on Seri conversion, 70, 71
Robinson episode, history of, 117
Roca Foca, features of, 49
Rockhill, W. W., acknowledgments to 20
Romero, Don Mateo, acknowledgments to 20
"Rudo Ensayo", authorship of, 70
on Seri arrow-poison, 78
on Seri character and conversion, 77
on Seri population, 71
on Seri language, habitat, etc., 78
on Sonoran missions, 71
Running of Seri, 149*-152*
S
Saguaro, characters of, 33-34
Saguesa, characters of, 33-34
Salish, marriage customs of, 286*
Salsipuedes, discussion of name, 65
Salvatierra, Juan Maria, visit to Seriland by, 67, 69
Sand-spits of Seriland, features of, 42
Santa Magdalena de Tepoca, location and duration of, 69-70
Savagery, automacy of, 176*-177*
Sawyer, W. M., acknowledgments to, 20
Scatophagy, Seri, 209*-213*
, Seri, connected with mortuary customs, 289*, 291*
Scottish marriage customs, 285*
Seale, R. W., map by, 63
Sealskin, Seri utensil repaired with, 193*
Seaweed, Seri consumption of, 207*
"Second harvest" of Seri and Californian Indians, 209*-213*
Seneca, marriage customs of, 286*
Seri Indians, memoir on, 1-344*
Seriland, area of, 22
, climate of, 23-25
, communality of life in, 32, 37, 133*
, fauna of, 36-39
, flora of, 31-36
, local features of, 39-50
, location of, 22
, maps of, 62-66
, physical characteristics of, 22-31
, precipitation in, 24-25
, temperature of, 23-24
, water of, 28-30, 181*
Seri waters, tides, currents, and gales of, 45-49
Seton-Thompson, Ernest, on animal markings, 167*
Shamanism among Seri, 274*
Sheetflood erosion in Sonoran province, 25-26
Shellfish, place of, in Seri dietary, 195*
Shells, Seri use of, as cups, 185*-186*
, Seri use of, as tools, 233*-234*
Sierra Kunkaak, features of, 23, 42
Sierra Menor, features of, 23, 43
Sierra Seri, features of, 23, 41-42
Silsbee, T. H., on Porter-Johnson episode, 122
Siméon, Rémi, classification of Serian family by, 104
Skeleton, Seri, characteristics of, 140*-147*
Skin-dressing, Seri methods of, 227*
Skin-tint, Seri, 137*-138*
Skull, Seri, 141*, 142*-144*
Sky, Serian and Yuman names for, 340*-341*
Small, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 337*-338*
Smith, Buckingham, identification by, 51
, notes on Seri by, 101
Social development, stages of, 293*
Social organization of Seri, 10-11, 269*-295*
Socialry, Seri, place of, 293*-295*
Somatic characters of Seri, 9, 136*-163*
Sonora, Juan Maria de, on Seri, 66-67
Sonoran province, climate of, 23-25
, definition of, 22
, fauna of, 36-39
, flora of, 31-36
, geology of, 26, 30-31
, hydrography of, 25-28, 31
, physical characteristics of, 22-31
, precipitation in, 24-25
, sheetflood erosion in, 25-26
, temperature of, 23-24
Southworth, J. R., on concession for exploration of Tiburon, 122
Spencer, Herbert, on primitive marriage, 284*, 285*
Sponge, use of, as jacal covering, 222*
Squirrel, Seri tabu of, 203*
Standard markings, definition of, 168*
Stature of Seri, 136*-137*
Stirpiculture among Seri, 158*, 284*
Stock, Seri consumption of, 205*
, Seri methods of killing, 204*-205*
Stone, Charles P., identification by, 51
, notes on Seri by, 99-100
Stone implements, Seri, census of, 248*
, Seri, classes of, 10, 234*-235*, 248*-249*, 255*
, specimens of, 235*-247*
Storms of Seri waters, 45-47
Straits of Anian, belief in, 55-56
Sun, Serian and Yuman names for, 341*-342*
Surveys, recent, in Seriland, 12-21
Symbolism of Seri, 164*-179*
Synonymy of the Serian stock, 128-130*
T
Talisman-trophies, Seri, 259*-261*
Tarahumari, marriage customs of, 286*
, swiftness of, 125
Technic, development of Seri, 10, 115, 198*-200*, 205*-206*, 215*,
265*-269*
, primitive, stages of, 249*-253*
Technolithic stage, definition of, 251*-252*, 253*
Teeth, Seri use of, 152*-154*
Temperature of Sonoran province, 23-24
Tenochio, D. A., Seri vocabulary collected by, 102, 296*, 299*
Tepoka tribe, classification of, 67, 77, 83, 87, 99, 104, 107-108
, synonymy of, 129*
Ternaux-Compans, Henri, notes on Seri by, 94
Thompson, L. K., aid rendered by, 14
on Seri charm-trophies, 260*
Thrift-sense, Seri, beginning of, 209*-212*
Thumb, Serian and Yuman names for, 330*-332*
Tiburon island, extent of, 22
, features of, 42-45
, first exploration of, 61
, first circumnavigation of, 68-69
, naming of, 53
, second circumnavigation of, 89-93
Tides of Seri waters, 45-47
Tinaja Trinchera, fortifications at, 41
Todd, Professor, on directive markings of animals, 167*
Tongue, Serian and Yuman names for 297*, 328*-330*
Tools, Seri, 217*, 230*, 232*-254*
Tool-sense, Seri lack of, 152*-154*
Tooth, Serian and Yuman names for, 297*, 328*-330*
Torquemada, Juan de, on Californian fishing devices, 194*
Totemic organization of Seri, 10-11, 166*-167*, 168*-169*, 269*-274*
Tovar, Pedro de, attack on Seri (?) by, 54
Tree, Serian and Yuman names for, 297*, 338*-340*
Trees of Seriland, 32-36
Tribal features of Seri, 123-135*
Tribal organization of Seri, 275*-277*
Tribal relations of Seri, 67, 77-78, 83, 87, 95-96, 101, 102, 103,
104, 108, 127-134*
Triplets, Seri ideas concerning, 281*
Troncoso, Francisco, on Seri population and navigation, 82, 135*
Tuna harvest of Seri, 206*-208*
Turtle, Seri method of catching and eating, 186*-190*
, Seri trays of shell of, 185*-186*
, Seri use of shells of, as jacal covering, 222*
Tylor, E. B., on primitive marriage, 284*
U
Ugarte, Juan de, explorations in Seriland by 67-69
Ulloa, F. de, explorations and observations by, 52-53
Upanguayma, classification of, 78, 102, 103, 104, 130*
, synonymy of, 129*-130*
Utensils, Seri, 10, 182*-186*, 208*-209*
V
Van der Aa, Peter, maps by, 56, 62
Vaugondy, Robert de, map by, 64
Vegetal food of Seri, 206*-208*
Vegetation of Seriland, 31-36
Velasco, ——, on Andrade-Espence expedition, 88-91
, on attack on Seri in 1844, 88
, on Cimarrones-Migueletes war, 83
, on Seri character, physique, food, etc., 92
, on Seri population, 92, 135*
, on Seri wars, 94, 116
, on Sonoran missions, 70
Venegas, Miguel, map by, 65-66
on Californian fishing devices, 194*
on Iturbi expedition, 56
on Kino expedition, 57
on Salvatierra expedition, 67
on Seri conversion, 76-77
on "Straits of Anian", 55
on Ugarte expedition, 68, 69
Villa-señor, J. A. de, on Seri conversion, 76
on Seri habitat and life, 70, 77
on Seri population, 135*
on Seri tribal divisions, 77-78
Visnaga, absence of, from Seriland, 207*-208*
, occurrence of, in Sonoran province, 34
Vocables, Seri, classification of, 298*
, Serian and Yuman, comparative discussion of, 297*-344*
Vocabularies, Seri, 95-96, 97-99, 296*, 299*
Von Bayer, H., photograph of Serf archery posture by, 108, 200*-202*
W
Waïkuri language, classifications of, 300*, 343*-344*
Wammus, Seri, characters of, 225*
, Seri, origin of, 232*
Warfare, Seri, character of, 259*-265*
, Seri, weapons used in, 254*-259*
War frenzy, Seri, 262*-263*, 265*
Water, importance of, in Seri diet, 180*-182*
of Seriland, 28-30, 181*
, Serian and Yuman names for, 338*-340*
Water-fowl of Seriland, 38
, Seri methods of catching and eating, 190*-191*
Water-sense of Seri, 158*-159*
Weapons Seri, 254*-256*
Westermarck, E., on primitive marriage, 285*
Whale, place in Seri dietary of, 192*-193*
White, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 336*-337*
Wing, Serian and Yuman names for, 332*-333*
Winship, G. P., on Coronado expedition, 53-55
Wolf, Serian, Yuman, and Piman names for, 342*-343*
Woman, Serian and Yuman names for, 321*-324*
Women, prominence of, in Seri funeral rites, 287*-292*
, prominence of, in Seri socialry, 269*-274*
Wood, Serian and Yuman names for, 297*, 338*-340*
Y
Yellow, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 335*-336*
Yerba de flecha, supposititious use of, by Seri, as arrow poison,
258*-259*
Young, Serian and Yuman words meaning, 336*-337*
Yuman languages, comparison of Serian with, 296*-344*
Yurok, marriage customs of, 285*
Z
Zoic character of Seri socialry, 293*, 295*
Zooculture, Seri incapacity for, 203*-204*
Zoomimic stage of primitive technic, definition of 249*-250*, 252*
Zoosematic character of Seri face-painting, 169*
Zuñi, marriage customs of, 286*
[Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))" ***
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