t 



140* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17 



Mashem (aged about 50 years), who liad a few gray strands about the 

 temples; but it may be sigiiiflcant that the hair of the tribal outlaw 

 Kolusio, who has lived with white men for full three score years, is iron- 

 graj'. Kolusio's pelage is trimmed in Caucasiou fasliion ; thatof ]Mashem 

 is cut off mid-length in a manner exciting comment, if not derision, 

 on the part of his fellows and others, and i-esulting in his (Spanish) 

 sobriquet, Pelado (literally, Peeled, or idiomatically, Shorn); but with 

 few exceptions the hair is kept long as it can be made to grow, and 

 receives careful attention to this end. Naturally the length is some- 

 what variable; in many cases it depends to or slightly below the waist, 

 while in other cases it merely sweeps the shoulders; and in general it 

 appears to increase in both length and hixuriauce not only throughout 

 adolescence, but up to late maturity, for the best pelages are presented 

 by moderately aged persons, while none of the youths are so luxuriantly 

 tressed as their elders. Not the slightest trace of baldness ai)pears. 

 The infantile pelage is short, brownish in color, soft or even silky, and 

 inclined to curl toward the tips. It is not until the age of several 

 months that the hair begins to acquire the adult character, and at 

 least some children retain traces of the infantile pilary character up to 

 5 or even 10 years; and none of the children display such jet-black 

 shock-heads as are frequently found among other tribes, whose adult 

 pelage may nevertheless be much less luxuriant than that of the Seri. 

 On the whole, it may be said that the Seri hair is luxuriant and vigorous 

 beyond the aboriginal average, and that it, like various other somatic 

 features, indicates a rehitively late maturation in the life-history of the 

 individual. 



Both sexes are beardless. The female faces seen were entirely free ot 

 strong pilary growth ; one or two of the warrior faces showed scattering 

 hairs, and Mashem sported a feeble and downy but Jet black mustaclie 

 with an exceptional unmber of scattered hairs about the chin; while 

 Kolusio shaved regularly, and might, apparently, have grown moder- 

 ately stilf but straggling mustaches and beard. Axillary hair seems to 

 be wanting; pubic hair is said to be scanty; otherwise tlie bodies are 

 practically hairless (more nearly so than those of average Caucasians). 



The teeth are solid, close-set, and even, and impress the observer as 

 large; they close with the upper incisors projecting slightly beyoud 

 the lower denture in the usual manner. 



The skeletal characteristics of the Seri are known only from a single 

 specimen obtained in the course of tlie 1S95 exi)edition in such manner 

 as to establish the identification beyond shadow of question. This 

 skeleton was submitted to Dr Ales Hrdlic ka for measurement and 

 discussion.' 



In making his examination, Dr Hrdlicka compared tlie unquestion- 



'A separate cranium was obtained by tbe 1895 expedition, having: been sought and picked up by a 

 Mexican member of tbe ]).irty in verification of bis account of the killinj; of one of tbe Seri; but, in 

 view of the possibility of ei louoous identification, this skull was not submitted in connection with 



