640 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



various colors. In physique the Seri Indians are notable for slen- 

 derness, especially the lower limbs ; for depth and breadth of chest ; 

 for large stature, and for the dark color of the skin. (See pi. 50.) 



WOMAN OF CHIAPAS, SOUTHERN MEXICO. 



The costume consists of a woven skirt; an overgarment in damask 

 pattern called huipille, with embroidered collar; a head handker- 

 chief, and jewelry. Sandals are rarely worn. She carries the ves- 

 sels of gourd and pottery in common use. (See pi. 51.) 



FAMILY GROUP OF THE MAYA-QUICHE INDIANS. 



The Maya Indians (Mayan family) inhabit Yucatan and Guate- 

 mala, including also some parts of Chiapas and a small area in 

 western Honduras. At one time they were the most highly cultured 

 of all the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere. They had 

 an artificial basis of food supply, dressed in delicate fabrics, and 

 were capable of erecting sacred edifices in dressed and garnished 

 stone, also vast terraces, plazas, and stepped pyramids surmounted 

 with buildings adorned with sculptures and paintings. They were 

 of moderate stature, not warlike, but industrial, and the sculptures 

 and paintings revealing their religion are remarkably free from 

 bloody scenes. They number in Central America, at present, several 

 hundreds of thousands. The family group here presented includes 

 a man with his staff bearing a net filled with fruit, one woman work- 

 ing at the mill, a second woman carrying a basket of fruit in her 

 right hand and a gourd in her left, white the girl walks by her 

 mother and holds a decorated gourd vessel. (See pi. 52.) 



TRIBES OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



The South American Continent presents a similar diversity of 

 Indian tribes and culture as North America, but as most of the 

 tribes live in a tropical environment clothing and shelter and some 

 other arts are not as prominent as in the north. In the vast basin 

 of the Amazons and the heavily forested north, the Indian in per- 

 petual contest with an exuberant vegetation made little progress 

 toward civilization. In the Andes and on the west coast one of 

 the greatest aboriginal civilizations grew up in an arid country 

 offering few inducements for settlement as in the Pueblo region of 

 the United States. These ancient people of Peru and Bolivia sub- 

 sisted mainly on maize, potatoes, and quinoa, and had domesticated 

 llamas which were used as beasts of burden and for wool. They 

 were expert weavers, metal workers, potters, and wood carvers. 

 They constructed roads over the mountains and built massive build- 

 ings of stone, At the time of the conquest the ruling tribe, called 



