SO^rATIC OHAliACTEES 



Several i)liysical charat'teristics of the Seri Indians are so coiispicnous 

 as to attract attention even at first sight. Perhaps tlie most striking 

 is the noble stature and erect yet easy carriage; next in prominence is 

 the dark skin-tint; a third is the breadth and deptli of chest; another 

 is the slenderness of limbs and disproportionately large size of extremi- 

 ties, especially the feet; still another is length and luxuriance of hair; 

 and an impressive character is a peculiar movement in walking and 

 running. 



The mean stature of the adult Seri may be estimated at about feet 

 (1.S25 meters) for the males, and 5 feet 8 inches (1.72T meters) or 5 feet 

 9 inches (1.73 meters) for the females, these estimates resting on visual 

 comparisons between Caucasians of known stature and about forty 

 adult Seri of both sexes at Costa Rica in 1894^. In several of the 

 accompanying photomechanical reproductions (e. g., plates xiii, xvr, 

 XIX, XXIII, and xxviii) a unit figure, introduced partly for the enc;our- 

 agement of the individuals and groups but chiefly to aftbrd a basis fur 

 approximate measurement, gives opportunity for test of the estimate, 

 the figure measuring 5 feet 11 inches (l.SO meters) to .T feet 11.^ inches 

 (1.811.* meters), and weighing about 215 pounds in the costume shown, 

 including hat and boots.' These pictures and some thirty unpublished 

 photographs, like the observations on the ground, indicate that jiracti- 

 cally all of the fully adult males and several of the fenu\les overtop the 

 Caucasian unit. The only definite measurement known is that of the 

 youthful and apjiarently immature female skeleton examined by Dr 

 Hrdlicka, of which the dimensions indicate a stature (estimated by the 

 method of Mauouvrier) of about 5 feet 3i^ inches (1.02 meters),- or 3.i 

 inches above the female normal of 5 feet ^ inch (1.53 meters) given by 

 Topinard; but this considerable stature is, probably on account of the 

 youth of the subject, nuicli below the mean indicated by the ocular and 

 photographic comparisons (it (corresponds fairly with that of the Seri 

 maiden represented in jdate xxv, whose age was estimated at 18 years). 

 Naturally this striking stature, especially that of the warriors, has 

 been much exaggerated by casual observers; the typical warrior. El 

 3Iudo, depicted in plate xix, is indeed commonly reckoned as a 7-footer, 

 though his actual stature (diminished somewhat in the pictures by fear- 

 some shrinking from the ordeal of photographing) can hardly exceed 



' The average net height and weight of the unit figure (that of the author) are about 5 feet 8J inches 

 anil 200 pounds, respectively. 



'Or :iliunt 1.G176 meters estimated liy the iiiethod of llollet (i-f. The Races of llan, J. Douiker, 

 Loiidun, 1900, p. 33). 



136* 



