Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's Note:

This project is best displayed in html or ebook readers due to the spacing issues in tables caused by unicode characters.

W J McGee apparently preferrred his initials without periods. The initials W J are retained as scanned.

The letter "q" does not have a superscript character in unicode. Superscripts with a "q" are formatted with a caret and any additional superscript characters in braces in the text version.

Pages 129-end are asterisked in the original text because they overlap the pagination of the following article.]

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

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. I

SERILAND]

THE SERI INDIANS

By W J MCGEE