168* THE SERI INDIANS [eth. ax.n. 17 



blazou fortb the alternative meaniugs of preference for peace or readi- 

 ness for strife, like tlie calumet toinaliawk of the Sioux warrior (as 

 interpreted by Gushing). So the directive markings of the first class 

 are substantially beacons of danger and fear, while those of the second 

 are just as essentially standards of safety and confidence; and they 

 may properly be designated as beacon-markuuifi and stanclardmdrlinfis, 

 respectively.' On seriating the two classes in terms of development, 

 it is at once found that the beacon-markings are in large measure con- 

 nected with excursive movement and are centrifugal in effect, while the 

 standard-markings are connected mainly with incursive movement and 

 are centripetal in effect; at the same time the latter express not only 

 the higher intelligence, but also the greater degree of that conjustment 

 which forms the basis of collective organization; so that the latter 

 unquestionably represents the higher developmental stage. Now, the 

 primary functions of these directive markings of the higher grade — 

 signalization (or attentionizatioii) and identification — correspond pre- 

 cisely with paramount needs of the alien-hating and clan-loving Seri; 

 so that careful analysis would seem fully to justify the casual impres- 

 sion of functional similitude between the Seri face-painting and the 

 directive markings of social animals. 



While the first survey establishes a certain analogy between the 

 primitive face-painting and the standard-markings of animals, an im- 

 portant disparity is noted when the survey is extended to individuals; 

 for among beasts and birds the standards are usually the more con- 

 spicuously displayed by the males, while the paint devices of the Seri 

 are confined to the females. A suggestion pointing toward explana- 

 tion of this disparity is readily Ibund in the seriation of developmental 

 stages marked by (1) the fear-born beacon-markings, (2) the confidence- 

 speaking standard-markings, and (3) the painted symbols; for the arti- 

 ficial devices coincide with an immeasurably advanced mental develop- 

 ment, with concomitant advance in safety and peace on the one hand 

 and in artificializing weapons on the other hand. This suggestion 

 alone fails to explain the disparity fully, yet it raises another, growing 

 out of the great social advancement connected with the mental devel- 

 opment — i. e., the eftect of the distinctively demotic organization of 

 the human genus as represented by the Seri people. On considering 

 this organization, it is found strictly maternal: the tribe is made up of 

 clans defined by consanguinity reckoned only in the female line; each 

 clan is headed by an elderwoman, and comprises a hierarchy of daugh- 

 ters, granddaughters, and (sometimes) great-granddaughters, collect- 

 ively incarnating that purity of uncontaminated blood whii'li is the 

 pride of the tribe;' and this female element is supplemented by a mas- 

 culine element in the persons of brothers, who may be war-chiefs or 

 shamans, and may hence dominate the movements of groups, but whose 



1 The fundamental distinction is none the less valid by reason of the occasional combination of 



functions, as in the antelope "chrysanthemum " interpreted by Seton-Tbompson. 



