40 THE SERI INDIANS [etii. axn.it 



into the saguesa forests of the easteiu base of Sierra Seri; on the east 

 it is miles in breadth, jiassiiig gradually into the normal Sonoran i)lain; 

 on the south it widens still farther, stretching all the way to Arenales 

 de Gil and Pozo Bscalaute, and merging into the playalike mud-flats 

 bordering Laguiia la Cruz, into which the gulf waters are sometimes 

 forced by southwesterly cales at high spring tides. Throughout this 

 portion of the desert, marine shells are scattered over the playa-lilve 

 flats or lodged in the adjacent banks, sometimes in great beds; the 

 vegetation is scantier than usual and largely of salt-loving habit; the 

 mud-flats are usually coated with saline and alkaline crusts, while the 

 dunes are soft and fluft'y, and expand into broad belts perforated with 

 the tunnels of the surprisingly abundant rodents. Across this plain 

 of bitter sand-dust lie the two hard land routes to Seriland — tbe sup- 

 posed Escalante route of 1700, down the fan of Kio Bacuache and 

 thence by Barranca Salina: and the Encinas route, down the northern 

 border of the Rio Souora fan and thence by Pozo Escalante to the 

 shores of Bahia Kino.' 



Desierto Encinas is an impossible human habitat in any proper sense; 

 it is merely a broad and hardly passable boundary between habitats. 

 The hardy stock of the frontier ranchos, pasturing partly on the thorny 

 fruit of the cholla, push far out on the plains, and are sometimes watered 

 for short periods, under strong guards of heavily armed vaqueros, at 

 Barranca Salina; yet the greater part of the expanse is trodden only 

 by the Seri. Two or three ruined frames of Seri jacales and a few 

 graves crown tlie low knoll near I'ozo Escalante, and there are one or 

 two house remnants near Barranca Salina; these are notable not only 

 as the easternmost remaining outposts of Seri occupancy, but because 

 they represent the only known instances in all Seriland of the erection 

 of even temporary houses adjacent to water. Distinct paths, trodden 

 deep by bare Seri feet, radiate from both waters toward the Seriland 

 interior, but no traceable trails extend eastward. 



The southern limit of Desierto Encinas is marked either by the broad 

 mud-flats oi)euing into Laguna la Cruz or by the coast of the gulf, the 

 coast cutting the lower portions of the plain being acccTituated by a 

 sand-bank 30 or 40 feethigh, against which the surf thunders in nearly 

 continuous roar, audible halfway or all the way to Pozo I'^scalante. A 

 Seri trail skirts the crest of this bank, sending occasional branches iuto 



* Both the routes were traverseil by the expedition of 1895, tbe former from the headwaters of Rio 

 Bacuache to the upper portion of its alluvial fan. and then from tbe abaiuluned Raiicho Libertad on 

 the lower portion of the fan across Desierto Encinas by way of Barranca Salina. In the northern 

 crossing a light vehicle (the first to traverse this portion of the desert), drawn by four horses and 

 aided by several horsemen, was taken from Kani:ho Libertad across the northern portion of Phiya 

 Noriega and thence up Arroyo Mitchell to a point midway between Barranca Salina and .Tolinson 

 I)eah. and was brought back o\ er the same route. The Encinas trail from Kincho San Frauci.seo de 

 Costa Kica was traversed four times each way Ity the same outfit, and once each way by the running 

 gear of a heavy wagon carrying the rude craft (about l,lmO pounds in weight) in which the Seri 

 waters were navigated, this vehicle being drawn by 8 in 12 horses, frequently changed. Typical 

 aspects of both routes are shown in plate ill, the upi)er figure representing the Encinas trail and 

 the lower a distant view of Sierra Seri. taken from I'laya Koriega, in the depths of Desierto Encinas. 



