[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