BicoEE] THE PAINTED OLLA 175* 



and the shell strata are so like and so different from any other fictile 

 ware as to be distinguished at a glance. Hence it would seem manifest 

 that the Seri oUa must constitute a normal nucleus for the Seri esthetic; 

 yet even here the field is practically barren, as is shown by the study of 

 a score of usable and mortuary specimens and of thousands of sherds. 

 The most ornate si>ecimen seen is that depicted in plate xxxii. Its 

 form, like that of the balsa, is a mechanical equation of forces and 

 materials; its body color is that of the clay, blotched and blackened 

 irregularly by the smoke of the firing; and its decoration is limited to 

 17 faint lines or bands radiating downward from the ill-shaped neck. 

 The radial bands were evidently drawn by a finger dipped in clayey 

 water after the vessel was otherwise finished for the firing; they are 

 irregular in placement, width, length, and direction; they generally 

 run in pairs, two straight lines alternating with two zigzag lines, though 

 the circuit is completed by two zigzags drawn wide apart and separated 

 by a single straight line. The meaning of the device (if meaning there 

 be) was not directly ascertained ; but it is suggestive that its maker and 

 owner was the mother of the youthful warrior from whom the rattle- 

 snake necklace was obtained (her face-symbol is that shown in the 

 lower left figure of plate xxvi), and that the vessel was surrendered 

 more reluctantly than any other article obtained from the tribe. 



Another utensil of some importance to the tribe is a basket of the 

 type illustrated in figure 24. It is manufactured with much skill 

 and is used for various domestic purposes, being practically watertight 

 and unbreakable, and materially lighter than even the unparalleledly 

 light fictile ware of the Seri. In form and size and weave the half dozen 

 examples seen correspond with widespread southwestern types; yet it 

 is noteworthy that while otlierwise similar baskets are habitually decor- 

 ated by other basket-making tribes, the Seri specimens were absolutely 

 devoid of decorative devices. 



Practically the onlj' remaining artifacts available for decoration are 

 those connected with archery ; and it suffices to say that while the bows 

 are skilfully made and the arrows constructed with exceeding pains, 

 not a single specimen seen showed the slightest trace of symbolism or 

 of nonutilitarian motive. 



Summarily, the Seri are characterized by extreme esthetic poverty. 

 This has been noted by the earlj' missionaries and by the few other trav- 

 elers who have approached their haunts, as well as by the vaqueros on 

 the Encinas and Serna and other ranches bordering their range, who 

 know them as "los pobrecitos". All observers have been struck with 

 their destitution and squalor; yet when the impressions are particular- 

 ized they are seen to denote absence of the poor luxuries, rather than 

 the bare necessities, of primitive life. The people are pathetically poor 

 in the industrial sense; their equipment in artifacts — implements, 

 weapons, utensils, habitations, apparel — is meager almost, if not quite, 

 beyond parallel in America; yet their esthetic equijjment, practically 



