THE SERI I:N^DI^NS 



By W .1 McGef, 



INTRODUCTION 

 Salient Features 



Soiiietlung bas beeu knowu of the Seri Indians (Seris, Ceris, Ceres, 

 Hei-i«, Tiburones) since tbe time of Coronado, yet they remain one of the 

 least-studied tribes of North America. The first systematic investiga- 

 tion of the tribe was made in the course of expeditious by the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology in 1894 and lS9o; it was far from complete. 



The Seri Indians are a distinctive tribe in habits, customs, and lan- 

 guage, inhabiting Tiburon island iu Gulf of California and a lim- 

 ited adjacent area on the mainland of Sonora (Mexico). They call 

 themselves Kun-laal< or Kmile: their common appellation is from 

 the Opata, and may be translated "spry". Their habitat is arid and 

 rugged, consisting chiefly of desert sands and naked mountain rocks, 

 withpermauent fresh water in only two or three places ; it is barred from 

 settled Sonora by a nearly impassable desert. Two centuries ago the 

 population of the tribe was estimated at several thousands, but it 

 has been gradually reduced by almost constant warfare to barely three 

 hundred and fifty, of whom not more than seventy-five are adult males, 

 or warriors. 



The Seri men and women are of splendid physique; they have fine 

 chests, with slender but sinewy limbs, though the hands and especially 

 the feet are large; their heads, while small iu relation to stature, 

 approach the average in size; the hair is luxuriant and coarse, ranging 

 from typical black to tawny in color, and is worn long. They are nota- 

 bly vigorous in movement, erect in carriage, and remarkable for fleet- 

 ness and endurance. 



The Seri subsist chiefly on turtles, fish, moUusks, water-fowl, and 

 other food of the sea; they also take land game, and consume cactus 

 fruits, mesquite beans, and a few other vegetal products of their 

 sterile domain. Most of their food is eaten raw. They neither plant 

 nor cultivate, and are without domestic animals, save dogs which 

 are largely of coyote blood. 



The habitations of the Seri are flimsy bowers of cactus and shrubbery, 

 sometimes shingled rudely with turtle-shells and sponges; iu some 



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