130* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17 



Opax Guaimas— 17(i3; [Neutwig?], Emlo Ensayo, p. 229. 

 Upanuuaima — 1864 ; Orozco y Beira, Geograiia de las Lcugiias, p. 42. 

 Up.anguaimas — 1878; Malte-Brun, Congres Interuatioual des Amdricanistes, tome ii, 



p. 38. 

 XJPAXGfAYMA — .Synthetic form. 



Upaxgcay.mas — 1882; Bancroft, Works (Native Races, vol. I, p. 005). 

 Upan-Guay.mas — 1890; Bandelier, Investigations iu the Southwest, p. 75. 



Possibly the name Cocomaf/ues (1804, Orozco y Beria, Geografia de 

 las Leuguas, p. 42), or Gucomaques (1727, Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, 1. 

 1514-1519) should be introduced among the synonyms of the Seri, but 

 iu the absence of defluite information it may perhaps better be left 

 unassigned. ' 



Of the four tribes assigned to the stock, the Upanguayma have been 

 extinct probably for more than a century; the Guaynia may survive in 

 a few repiesentatives jirobably of mixed blood and adopted language; 

 the Tepoka Lave never received systematic investigation, but apjjcar to 

 survive iu limited numbers on the eastern coast of Gulf of Califor- 

 nia about the embouchure of the Eio Ignacio saud-wash; while the Seri 

 alone continue to form a prominent factor in Sonorau thought. 



External Eelations 



The most conspicuous characteristic of the Seri tribe as a whole is 

 isolation. The geographic position and physical features of their habi- 

 tat favor, and indeed measurably compel, isolation: their little princi- 

 pality is ])rotected on one side by stormy seas and on the other by still 

 more forbidding deserts; their home is too hard and poor to tempt con- 

 quest, and their possessions too meager to invite spoliation; hence, 

 under customary conditions, they never see neighbors save in chance 

 encounters on their frontier or in their own predatory forays — and iu 

 either case the enfconnters are commonly inimical. The natural isola- 

 tion of the habitat is reflected in modes of life and habits of thought; 

 and during the ages the physical isolation has come to be reflected in 

 a bitter and implacable hereditary enmity towai-d aliens — an enmity 

 apparently forming the strongest motive iu their life and thought, and 

 indeed grown into a persistent instinct. Thus the Seri stand alone in 

 every respect; they are isolated in habitat and still more intensely iso- 

 lated in habits of thought and life from all contemporaries; they far 

 out-Ishmael the Ishmael of old on Araby's deserts. 



The isolation of the Seri in thought and feeling is well illustrated 

 Ly the relations with their nearest neighbors (activitally as well as 

 geographically), the Papago Indians. The Papago are nuich esteemed 

 iu Sonora as fearless lighters, always ready to join or even to lead a 

 forlorn hope; yet when the expedition of 1895 was projected it was 

 found no easy matter to induce the ijicked Papago guards quartered 

 at Costa Rica to enter Seriland. They were ready, indeed mildly eager, 

 for fray, provided it were on the frontier; but they held back iu dread 



' These names seem rather to be Yuman; cf. Cocopa, Cocomao, Cocomaricopa, .STohuu, etc. 



