"WEAKNESS OF DECORATIVE SENSE 



173* 



"tt 



Natorally the conditions at Costa Rica were unfavorable to the study 

 of native ideas concerning apparel. The women and some of the chil- 

 dren were arrayed chiefly in cast-off habiliments of 

 the rancheras or in nondescrii)t rags, while the men 

 either aped ^Mexican fashions, like Mashem, or shame- 

 facedly sweltered under the unaccustomed burden of 

 tatterdemalion gear; yet there was a meaningful 

 absence of that desire fcu' finery so prominent among 

 primitive peoples — a fact quite as eloquent in itself 

 as the absence of bracelets and bangles, tassels and 

 trappings. It is probable that the shamans and 

 mystery-hedged crones in the depths of Seriluud 

 enhance their influence by the aid of symbolic para- 

 phernalia (indeed, some inkling of such customs is 

 found in the meager records of earlier visitors) ;' yet 

 the conspicuous feature of Seri costumery is the 

 dearth of decorative devices. 



The habitations of the tribe are the simplest of 

 jacales — mere bowers, att'ording partial protection 

 from sun and wind, but not designed to shed rain 

 or bar cold. Half a dozen of these were examined at 

 Costa Rica in 1894 and probably a hundred more, in 

 various stages of habitability, in Seriland i)roi)er in 

 1895, yet not the slightest trace of decoration was 

 observed — the structures are ])lainly and barrenly 

 utilitarian in every feature. The same may be said 

 of the balsas in which the Seri navigate their stormy 

 waters; for the peculiarly graceful curves of the craft 

 evidently stand for nothing more than the mechanical 

 solution of a complex problem in balanced Ibrces, 

 wrought out through the experience of generations, 

 while the simple reed bundles are absolutely devoid 

 of paint, of sui)erfluous cord, of fetishistic appendages 

 or markings, of tritons, nereids, or other votive sym- 

 bols at bow or stern, and of industrially superfluous 

 features or attachments in general — indeed, the only • 

 appendages discovered were one or two simple wooden 

 marlinspikes (shown in figure 26), thrust among the 

 reeds to be at hand in case of need for repairs. 



Among the utensils employed in the ])rimitive 

 householdry of the Seri the most conspicuous and 

 at the same time the most essential is the olla, or 

 water-jar. Its technical features are described elsewhere; but it may 

 here be noted that the olla is the central artifact about which the very 



Fig. 13— Necklace of 

 wooden beads. 



' Hardy noted the uae of " a small leathern hag, painted and otherwise ornamented '', as a medicine 

 rattle (Travels, p. 282), and also described a wiud-symbol and au elJigy used for thaumaturgic pur- 

 poses (ibid., pp. 294, 295). 



