MCoEEl THE PORTER-JOHNSON EPISODE 1896 121 



point at which he had stopped; the other was a German naturalist- 

 prospector with two niozos (servautcompanious), purporting to hail 

 from Chihuahua, who started across the delta-plain of Rio Bacnache 

 and Desierto Eiicinas with saddle animals, and never reappeared. 



Then came the second expedition of the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology, to which several Papago domiciled at Costa Rica were attached 

 as guards. While the party were at the rancho the day before the 

 first entrada into Seriland via Barranca Salina, a party of vaipieros 

 from Rancho Santa Ana tended a lierd of stock to the barranca, for 

 water; one of the animals strayed behind a dune, and the vaqueros, 

 following its trail, came on a small baud of Seri already devouring the 

 entrails, and attacked them so vigorously that they escaped only by 

 outrunning the horses, leaving behind all their unattached possessions, 

 including a bow and quiver of arrows and an ancient and uonusable 

 army rifle. This incident, albeit typical, was untiinely, and doubtless 

 aided in rendering the Indians too wild to permit communication with 

 the aliens during the ensuing weeks spent in their territory. 



After the withdrawal of this expedition the Seri resumed their range 

 over the borderland plain, with the evident intention of avenging the 

 insult of the invasion. There were a number of skirmishes, in which 

 some of the Papago guards of the 1895 expedition were wounded and 

 had horses killed under them, though they did customary execution on 

 the worse-armed Seri; and extensively published press items indicate 

 that, toward the end of January, 1896, a party of five gold prospectors 

 landed on Tiburon, whence one escaped. 



A well-attested episode ensued toward the end of 1896: Captain 

 George Porter and Sailor John Johnson spent the later part of the 

 summer in cruising the coasts of the Gulf, collecting shells, feathers, 

 and other curios in the small sloop World. About the end of October 

 they apparently anchored in Rada Ballena; and a day or two later 

 Captain Martin Meiidez, of Guaymas, in charge of the s(!hooner (Hila, 

 being driven up the gulf and into Bahia Kunkaak by storms, came on 

 a horde of Seri looting Porter's vessel. The e])isode received publicity 

 on JMendez's return to Guaymas; United States Consular Agent 

 Crocker instituted inquiries, and Governor Corral sent a force to Costa 

 Rica, where, after some delay, a parley was held with a strong band of 

 Seri under the chiefship of "a seven-foot warrior named El Mudo (The 

 Mute), . . . so called for his reticence of speech."' The testimony 

 obtained at the parley and from Captain Mendez indicates that Porter 

 and Johnson landed, or at least ai)proached the shore, probably in a 

 small boat; that they were met by a shower of arrows, under which 

 Johnson immediately fell, while Porter defended himself with a shot- 



'San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 1898, p. 3. The details of the episode, including the corre- 

 spondence of Consular Agent Crocker, were printed in the newspapers of San Diego (the place of 

 residence of Porter and Johnson), jis well as in those of San Francisco and other cities; and there was 

 considerable correspondence concerning the matter with the State Department at Washington. Some 

 reports recount that the bodies of Porter and Johnson were rent to fragments and devoured, but these 

 details naturally lack confirmation. El Mode's portrait appears in plate xix. 



