78 THE SERI INDIANS [f.thann.i 



"Gueimas'' and " Jupaiigueimas". Alegre located the Seri on the coast 

 of the gulf from a few leagues north of the mouth of Kio Yaqui to Bahia 

 San .Juan de Bautista (Bahia Kino), adding, "with them may be classed 

 the Guaimas, few in number and of the same language".' Writing 

 about the same time, Jose Gallardo observed : "The distinction is slight 

 between the Seri and Upanguaima, the one and the other having the 

 same idiom" ("Poco es la distiiicion que hay entre seri y upanguaima, 

 . . . y unos y otros casi hablan uii mismo idioma"),- The author of 

 "Rudo Knsayo" wrote: "The Guaimas speak the same language, with 

 but little dittereuce, as the Seris."^ He mistook Gerro Prieto as their 

 l)rincipal retreat; mentioned tlie mountains of Bacoatzi Grande, Las 

 Espuelas, and others as other haunts ; noted Tiburon and San Juan Bau- 

 tista (San Esteban ?) islands as less-known shelters, and gave extended 

 attention to "the poison they use for their arrows" as "the most viru- 

 lent known in these parts"; for "even iu cases where the skin only is 

 wounded, the injured part begins to swell, and the swelling extends all 

 over the body to such a size that the flesh bursts t.nd falls to pieces, 

 causing death in twenty-four hours." To test this poison, the Seri 

 "bandage tightly the thigh or arm of one of their robust young men; 

 then make an incision with a flint and let the blood flow away from the 

 wound. When the blood is some distance Ironi the incision, they apply 

 the point of an arrow to it, steeped in the deadly poison. If at the 

 approach of the point of the arrow the blood begins to boil and recedes, 

 the ])oison is of the right strength, and the nian who lends his blood 

 for the experiment brushes it out with his hand to prevent the poison 

 from being introduced into his veins." He w;;s unable "to And out 

 with certainty of what deadly materials the deadly poison is composed. 

 Many a thing is spoken of, such as heads of irritated vipers cut at the 

 very moment of biting into a piece of lung; also half putrefied liuman 

 flesh and other filth with which I am unwilling to provoke the nausea 

 of the reader." He added the o]>ini(m that "the main ingredient is 

 some root."^ Padre Joseph Och, who, with other German evangels 

 including padres Mittendorf, Pfetterkorn, and Ruen (or Rohen), was 

 stationed in northwestern Sonora shortly before the eviction of the 

 Jesuits, was one of the recorders of aboriginal traits and features, 

 though his record (like that of most of his confreres) is impoverisiied 

 by his failure to discriminate tribes; but one of his notes is specific: 



As ail extraordinary trapping [Zierde] tJie Sfiris pierce the nasal septum and liaiig 

 small colored stones, whioU swing in I'rout of the month, thereto by strings. A few 

 carry, suspended from the nose, little blue-green pebbles, in which they repose 

 great faith. They prize these very highly, and one must give them at least a horse 

 or a cow in exchange for one. f' 



' Historia de la Compania de Jesus, p. 216. 



2 The Works of Hubert Howe Bani-roft, vol. ill (The Native Baces, vol. ill). 1882, p. 704. 



»0p. clt., p. 166. 



nbiil., pp. 197, las. 



sXaohricbteo von verscbicdenen LSrdern Aea Spanisohes Anierika, aus eigenbandigen Aufsiit- 

 zen ciniger Missiouare der Gesellscbaft Jesii. beiausgegeben von Cbristoph Gottlieb von Mnrr, 

 erstcrTbeil; Halle, 1809, p. 255. 



