MCGEE] DEWEY'.S surveys — 1874 1 Of) 



iieros .sometimes eat tlieir own excrement"; antliropopbagy was noted, 

 but as pertaining rather to tlie interior than to tlie coastwise tribes:' 

 and prominence was given to the Seri arrow poison, of which an early 

 author wrote: 



The poisiiu with which they eiiveiKiiri th(^ points of their arrows is the most active 

 that has ever been known here. ... It has not been possible to ascertain with 

 certainty the deadly materials of whicli this pestilential comj)OUDd is brewed. 

 Many things are alleged, e. g., that it is made from the heads of vipers, irritated 

 and decapitated at the moment of striking their teeth into a piece of lung or of half 

 putrefied hnniau flesh. 



Reference was made also to tlie " magof (probably the yerba mala of 

 the modern Mexicans) as a source of arrow poison.' The girls' puberty 

 feast was said to be kept uj) for several days among the Seri and 

 Tepoka, and the former were said to " superstitiously celebrate. the new 

 moon, and bow reverentially to the rising and setting sun", and also to 

 "employ charms in their medical practice".' Finally, the constituent 

 tribes were discriminated in a manner recalling the persistent assump- 

 tion that the parasite-converts at the missions fairly represented the 

 Seri : 



The Tejjocas and Tiburcmes are liiTce, cruel, and treacherous, more warlike and 

 courageous than the C'eris of the mainland, who are singularly devoid of good 

 qualities, being sullenly stupid, lazy, inconstant, revengeful, depredating, and much 

 given to intemperance. Their country even has become a refuge for evil doers. In 

 former times they were warlike .-md brave, but even this <iuality they have lost, and 

 ha\"e become as cowardly as they are cruel.' 



It is evident that this characterization of " the Oeris of the mainland" 

 was based on the degraded scavengers outlawed by the tribe and 

 attached to the missions and pueblos during much of the historical 

 period. 



It was also during the seventies that the errors and uncertainties of 

 three and a half centuries concerning the coasts of the Califoiiiian gulf 

 were tinally brought to an end through the surveys of Coinmander 

 (now Admiral) George Dewey, U. S. N., and the officers of the United 

 States ship Xarrtuiansett, under the direction of the Hydrographic 

 Oftice of the United States. These surveys resulted in trustworthy 

 and complete geodetic locution of all coastwise features, in geographic 

 placement of the entire coast-line, in soundings of such extent as 

 to determine the bottom configuratioii, in tidal determinations, in 

 recognition of the currents, in definition of harbors and anchorages, 

 and eventually in a series of elegant and accurate charts (dated 

 1873-75) available for the cartographers and navigators of the 

 world. As tlie largest island in the gulf, Tiburou received especial 

 attention; its coast was accurately surveyed and mapjied, while the 

 interior was sketched in considerable detail, and tlie adjacent channels 

 were carefully defined atid sounded, 



'The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. ui (The Native Races, vol. ni, 1882, p. 576.) 



■'Ibid., 11. 679. 



3 Ibid., pp. 384, 587, 589. ' Ibid., p. 5UU. 



