MCGEE] EFFECTS OF CONJUGAL CONATION 163* 



Seii race-sense and Seri race- type no less delicate than that between 

 tbe stressfnl action and tbe stress-sbaijed strnctnres of tlie tribe, 

 and while the inception of both type and feeling may be ascribed to 

 the isolated euvirouinent, it seeuis manifest that both have interacted 

 constrnctively and in cumnlative fashion through a signiticant process 

 exemplified more clearly by this tribe than by others thns far studied. 

 At the same time, analysis of the harmony between type and senti- 

 ment indicates that the lowly Seri are actually, albeit unconsciously, 

 carrying out a meaningful experiment in stirpiculture — an experiment 

 whose methods and results are equally valuable to students. The Seri 

 gymnastic and the Seri stiipiculture are in close accord, in that both 

 are conditioned bj' initially dilatory yet ultimately intense action; the 

 results are equally accordant in that the one conduces toward individ- 

 ual vigor and the other toward a vigorous and distinctive stirp; while 

 the excellence of the methods (viewed from the somatic standpoint) is 

 attested by the magnificence of the product. Now, comparison of the 

 stirpicultured Seri with contemporary tribes shows that the desert- 

 bound folk have attained nnequaled somatic development, and sug- 

 gests that the intuitive stirpicnltural processes have been rendered 

 peculiarly effective through the i)ersistence of that tribal isolation in 

 which the processes ai)parently took rise; so the race-sense of the 

 Seri may be regarded as the i)roduct of long-continued stirincultural 

 processes, initially shaped by environment, yet developed to unusual 

 degree by somatico-social habits, kept ^ilive largely through continuous 

 environmental interaction. 



Summarily, the Seri are characterized by noble physique, by i)ecu- 

 liarly swift and lightsome movements, by great endurance coui)led with 

 capacity for vigorous action, by animal like symmetry and slowness of 

 maturation, and by various minor attributes combining with the major 

 features to form a distinctive race- type; and they are still more con- 

 spicuously characterized by an acute race-sense which holds them apart 

 from all aliens. At first sight, several of their somatic attributes seem 

 incomparably primitive, yet analysis of the attributes in the light of 

 certain laws which they exemplify better tiian other peoples thus far 

 studied indicates not so much a lack of development as an excess of 

 growth along purely somatic lines, with a correlative defect of develop- 

 ment along demotic lines; and when the lines of growth are traced to 

 the sources and conditions, it becomes fairly clear that the aberrant 

 development of the tribe is merely the reflection of a distinctive environ- 

 ment operating (evidently) throughout a long period. In brief, the 

 somatic interest of the Seri seems to center in the remarkable adjust- 

 ment of the tribe to a i>eculiar environment — an adjustment of such 

 delicacy as to imply interaction throughout many generations. 



