on the Isla Tiburon, which is separated from the desert coast 

 of Mexico by "El Infiernillo" (The Little Hell). According 

 to Bandelier, Nunez Cabeza de Vaca first approached Seri- 

 land in April 1536, Fray Pedro Nadal and Fray Juan de la 

 Asuncion in 1538, followed by the expedition of Marcos de 

 Niza. Then came the "Right Worshipful Knight Francis de 

 Ulla, borne in the city of Medina", and numerous other expe- 

 ditions, most important of which was that of Father Kino, 

 who in 1702 brought out a wonderful map of the region with 

 his own curious names of various places, among them being 

 " Islas de sal, si puedes" (Islands get out if can'st). All these 

 explorers agree in depicting the land as arid and forbidding, 

 this being later confirmed by the records of the Jesuits, and 

 the Franciscan fathers unsuccessful attempts to enter Seri- 

 land in 1772. 



It is only within recent years that the natives have as- 

 cended in the scale of civilization to the condition of hus- 

 bandry; they remain nomadic and uncultured. Their utensils 

 and weapons are of the crudest forms. The struggle for ex- 

 istence on the dangerous shores of the Infiernillo, the crossing 

 of its turbulent waters, call for extraordinary skill in the fish- 

 ermen ; the pursuit of game over the arid wastes of Seri-land 

 requires great, fleetness of foot, ability to carry burdens, and 

 unusual powers of endurance without food or drink. Recog- 

 nition of these indispensable and necessary characteristics, 

 and that they might readily be lost by too close mixture oi 

 consanguinity have gradually evolved into the eugenic law of 

 the Seris. 



Seri Marriages. 



The Seri are monagamous. Marriage with them is the 

 most sacred of institutions, and few — if any — devote more 

 thought and care to primary mating than these natives, unless 

 it be the Australian aborigines. This serves to confirm the 

 fact that the insular condition of existence, segregating cer- 

 tain groups from blood contamination of neighbors, is the most 

 ideal condition for the development of eugenics. In rearing 

 improved strains of domestic animals we have artificially cre- 

 ated an "insular" condition by rigid segregation of individ- 

 uals and the selection of suitable mates. Tiburon Island is to 

 the Seri what the cage is to the bird. Nature has surrounded 

 his domain with such physical obstacles that he has been able 

 to practice undisturbed for centuries his system of evolution- 

 ary eugenics and achieved very remarkable results. Thus 

 demonstrating that under certain conditions man could be im- 

 proved by the same methods he himself employs in the bet- 

 terment of animal and vegetable species. 



The requirements necessary to a Seri union are always 

 determined by the relatives of the suitor, who rigidly scruti- 

 nize whether the relationship existing between the two con- 

 sidering matrimony is such as to meet with the strenuous laws 



in 



