160* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.anx.it 



To the actual observer of tlie Seri in liis prime there is an indefinable 

 bnt none the less impressive harmony between the intense regimen aucl 

 tlie trenchant structural development characteristic of the tribe — a 

 harmony like unto that felt by naturalist and artist alike in viewing 

 at once the clean-cut form and vigorously easy mobility of tiger or 

 thoroughbred horse; and simple inspection of the lithe limbs and body- 

 muscles stirs into living realization a half-felt inference from many 

 facts — ^the obvious and indubitable inference that they are stress- 

 shaped structures. Accordingly, the concentrated and robust bodies, 

 the shapely jaws, the well-chiseled arms, and the statuesipie legs of the 

 Seri, no less than their powerful hands and bulky feet, direct speciial 

 attention to the axiom that somatic structures are the |)rodu(!t of exer- 

 cise, and indicate with convincing clearness that the structures are 

 trenchantly developed because of the supreme intensity of the creative 

 exercise. It may be impracticable to outline in terms of metabolism 

 the precise processes of waste and repair in organs and organisms, or 

 to define the relative periods of action and assimilation (or of catabolism 

 and anabolism) best adapted to the development of motile tissue; yet 

 the external facts of all l)()diiy growth demonstrate the efficiency of 

 alternating effort and repose, while the characteristics of highly devel- 

 oped animal bodies (including those of the Seri) demonstrate that the 

 most beneficial exercise is that of relatively brief but intense stresses 

 alternating with relatively long intervals of sluggish movement or com- 

 plete repose. Moreover, the facile metabolism involved in the widely 

 alternating regimen implies exceptional somatic plasticity of the sort 

 normally accompanying youth and attending tissue growth ; and this 

 persistent bodily plasticity is in harmony with the peculiarly dilatory 

 maturation characteristic of the Seri tribe. So the animal-like bodies of 

 the Seri, no less than their animal-like movements, which at first sight 

 suggest primitive condition, may safely be held in large measure to 

 reriect specific habits of life, themselves reflecting a distinctive habitat. 



Still more suggestive to the observer than the well-molded structures 

 and the intense functioning with whi(;h they are conjoined are those 

 elusive yet persistent characteristics of the Seri comprised in their dis- 

 tinctive race sense — characteristics ranging from overweening intra- 

 tribal i)ride to overpowering extratribal hatred. Even at first blush 

 it would seem obvious that the tribal isolation, itself the reflection of 

 environment, would necessarily tend toward a segregative habit with 

 concomitant hostility toward aliens; yet the race-sense of the Seri so 

 far transcends that of other segregated tribes as to suggest the exist- 

 ence of a specific cause. So, too, it would seem obvious that the race 

 feeling gathers about a corporeal nucleus in the form of the race-type 

 exemplified in the heroic stature, the shapely face, the mighty chest, 

 the luxuriant hair, the well modeled muscles, the powerful feet and 

 hands, the "collected" carriage, and tlie stored vitality, which (as 

 already indicated) synthesize the environmental interactions of gener- 

 ations; yet the actual student can not avoid the impression that the 



