The Seri Indians - free ebook by W J McGee

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*...

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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 t

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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

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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 Me

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 a

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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” l

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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 K n -káak or K m -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 Tenoch

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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 o

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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 w

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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

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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

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The Vertebral Column

Cervical vertebræ —Number complete; characters normal. All cervical spinous processes bifid; vertebra prominens well defined. All epiphyses absent. 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. Lumbar vertebræ —Number co

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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

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The Thoracic Cage

Aspect of ribs normal. Strength medium. Sternum absent....

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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. 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.) Ulnæ and radii —Form normal; bones slender; lower epiphyses ununited. Metacarpus, carpus, and pha

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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?). Heig

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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

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Symbolism and Decoration

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 t

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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,

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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 mater

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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

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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 equ

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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 ob

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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 ev

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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 voc

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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 representin

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Vocabulary Lists of Yuman Numerals

Comparative Lists of Serian and Yuman Numerals 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 Yu

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Comparative Lists of Serian and Yuman Conceptual Terms

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

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