12 THE SKRI INDIANS [eth.ann.i? 



sepulture. There is a weird, formal mourning for dead matrons, and 

 suggestions of fear of or veneration for the manes. 



Serilaud is surrounded with ])rehistoric works, telling of a numerous 

 population who successfully controlled the scant waters for irrigation, 

 built villages and temi)les and fortresses, cultivated crops, kept dimies- 

 tic animals, and manufactured superior fictile and textile wares; but 

 (save possibly in one spot) these records of aboriginal culture cease at 

 the borders of Seriland. In their stead a few slightly worn pebbles 

 and bits oi pottery are found here and there, deeply embedded in the 

 soil and weathered as by the suns of ages. There are also a few cairns 

 of cobbles njarkiug the burial places, and at least one cobble mound 

 of striking dimensions but of unknown meaning; and there are a few 

 shell-mounds, one so broad and high as to form a cape in the slowly 

 transgressing shoreline (I'unta Antigualla), and in which the protolithic 

 implements and other relics are alike from the house-dotted surface to 

 the tide level, 90 feet below. 



The abseiuje of relics of a superior culture, and the presence of Seri 

 relics throughout deposits of high antiquity, suggest that the tribe is 

 indigenous to Seriland; and this indication harmonizes with the pecul- 

 iar isolation of the territory, the lowly culture and warlike habits of the 

 people, the essentially distinct language, the singular marriage custom, 

 and the local character of the beast-gods. And all these features com- 

 bine to mark the Seri as children of the soil, or autochthones. 



Recent Exploka'I'ions and Sueveys 



J'resent knowledge of Seriland and its inhabitants is based i)rimarily 

 on the work of two expeditions by the Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 condu(;t('d in 18!>4and IS!*.'), respectively; and, secondarily, on researches 

 into the cartography and literature (descriptive, historical, and scien- 

 tific) of the region. Both of the expeditious 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 were ancillary to this purpose. 



The- 180 1 expedition was directed chiefly toward work among the 

 Papago Indians in the vaguely defined territory known as Papagueria, 

 lying south of Gila river and west of the Sierra Madre in southwest- 

 ern Arizona and western Sonora (Mexico). Outfitting at Tucson early 

 in October, the party moved southward, visiting the known Papago 

 rancherias and seeking others, and thus defiuiug the eastern limits 

 of the Pai)ago country. On the approach to the southern limits of the 

 tribal range toward Rio Sonora, the evil repute of the Seri Indiaus 

 sounded laiger and larger, suggesting the desirability of scientific 

 study of the tribe; and it was decided to attempt investigation. 

 Accordingly the party was reorganized at Herniosillo, and, with the 

 sanction of the Secretai-y of State and Acting Governor, Senor Don 

 Ram(>n Corral, jiroceeded to Rancho Saii Francisco de (Josta Rica, 



