84 THE SERl INDIANS [eth.axn.17 



put it into execution. To this eud the troops of Sonora are being equipped; ;i cor- 

 vette of tlie department of San Bias aids in the expedition and two or three vessels 

 of troops from the companies stationed at the port of that name on the South sea.' 



The record is significant as voicing an illfouuded discrimination of 

 the wandering Seri from the inhabitants of Tiburou, as echoing per- 

 sistent conception of Tiburon as a peninsula, and as summarizing the 

 characteristics of the tribe recognized at the eud of the last century. 



Meantime population and industries increased, while civil and mili 

 tary development pursued its course; the Presidio of Pitic expanded 

 into a pueblo, and later into the city which gradually adopted the cog- 

 nomen of General Jose Maria Gonzalez Hermosillo, a hero of Sonora in 

 the stirring times of 1S10-1S1;3; Pueblo Seri became Mesicanized, 

 retaining only a few Seri families in 1811, according to Manuel Cabrera;'^ 

 Guaymas grew into a port of some commercial note; pearl fishing pro- 

 gressed along the coast and prospecting in the interior; desjjite con- 

 stant harrying by Seri raids, the rancho of Bacuachito (probably the 

 Bacoachizo of Escudero ') became a flourishing pueblo; and plans for 

 ports in the northern gulf were broached and even tested. Moreover, 

 the dawn of the nineteenth century stirred scientific interest in the 

 native tribes, including the obstinate owners of Tiburon — an interest 

 stimulated by Humboldt's American journeys of 1803. 



Combining earlier cartography (originating with Kino) and persist- 

 ent tradition up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, Humboldt 

 majjped "Isla de Tiburon" nearly a degree too far northward, and 

 separated from the mainland by a greatly exaggerated strait. The land 

 portion of the map is strikingly defective, revealing in numerous imag- 

 inary mesas the author's penchant for Mexican plateaus, while "liio 

 Hiaqui" ("de Yaqui ou de Sonora" in the text) is combined with Rio 

 Sonora and given an intermediate position, and "Rio de la Ascencion" 

 (Rio San Ignacio) is represented as passing through an estuary into the 

 gulf just oft' the northern end of Tiburon; the "Indiens Seris" being- 

 located on a figmeutary mesa north of the latter river and due west of 

 Caborca, Pitic (apparently a composite of San Diego de Pitic, or modern 

 Pitiquito, with San Pedro de Pitic, or modern Hermosillo), and Altar.^ 

 His text corresponds: 



On the right bank of Rio de la Asencion live some very bellicose Indians, the Seris, 

 to wliom many Mexican savants ascribe an Asiatic origin by reason of the analogy 

 offered by their name with that of the Seri located by the ancient geographers at 

 the base of the Ottorocorras mountains." 



'Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical Route for a 

 Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacitic Ocean, vol. ni, ]»art 3: Report npon tlie Indian 

 Tribes, 1855, pp. 122-123. Tlie original Cortez manuscript is now in the Library of Congress. 



''In Velasco, op. cit., p. 137. 



"Noticias Estadisticas de Sonora y Sinaloa. Compiladas y Ampliticadas para la Comision de Esta- 

 dietica Militar, por el Lie. D. Jos6 Agustin do Escudero ; Mexico, 1849, p. 88. 



■•Atlas G6ographique et Physique du Royaume de la Nonvelle-Espagne, par Al. de Hiunboldt; 

 Paris, 1811, carte generale. 



f" Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland, troisieme partie; Essai Politiqtte sur Ic Koyaume de la 

 Nouvelle-Espagne, tome l : Paris, ISll, pp. 296-297. 



