17G* THE SERI INDIANS (eth.axn.17 



limited as it is to a single line of symbolic portrayal, is still more 

 abjectly meager. 



Any comparison of the Seri esthetic with that of other Amerind 

 tribes serves only to emphasize its j)aucity: the tribes of the plains, 

 with their eagle feather headdresses, elaborately arranged scalp locks, 

 widely varied face-painting, and ritualistic camp circles; the Pneblo 

 peoples, with their ornate masks, elaborate altars, fignred stutts, and 

 painted pottery; the denizens of the eastern woods, with their feather- 

 declced peace-pipes, divinatory games, fringe-bordered garments, and 

 prayer-inscribed arrows; the coastwise peoples of the upper Pacific, 

 with their labrets and tattoo-marks, totem-poles and carved house- 

 fronts, painted canoes and prodigal ])otlatches; the neighboring desert 

 tribes, with their festal footraces, decorated pottery and basketry, 

 l)eudent scarfs and garters, and well-wrought caskets for family fetishes; 

 even the timid acorn-eaters of California, with their sacrameutal baskets, 

 artistically befringed kilts, bead-strings of far-traveled nacre, and 

 patiently wrought fabrics of rare I'eather.s — all of these seem rich in 

 esthetic motives when contrasted with "los pobrecitos" of arid Seriland. 

 And the contrast is only intensified whe* the economic motives of the 

 various tribes are compared: the industrial motives of the Seri are 

 fairly numerous and diverse; they are skilful huntsmen, successful 

 fishermen, capable navigators, and competent warriors (as attested by 

 the protection of their principality for centuries), so that despite the 

 absence of agriculture and the avoidance of commerce, their industrial 

 range is not veiy far below the aboriginal average; and while they are 

 deficient in thrilt, this shortcoming is balanced by a peculiarly devel- 

 oped vital economy whereby they are delicately adjusted to their 

 environment, as has been already shown. On the whole, it would 

 appear that the Seri are not only lower in esthetic development than 

 the (!ontemporai:y tribes thus far studied, but also that they stand at 

 the bottom of the scale in the ratio of esthetic to industrial motives. 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DECORATION 



Largely through recent researches among the American aborigines, 

 it has been shown that decorative and many if not all other esthetic 

 concepts normally arise in symbolism, gradually expand in conven- 

 tionisui, and eventually mature in a realism which is itself the source 

 of ever extending esthetic motives; anil the observations on the lowly 

 Seri afford opportunity for somewhat extending the generalizations 

 based on liigher tribes. 



When i)eoples of unequal cultural development are compared, it is 

 commonly found that the higher are the more independent in action 

 and thought: thus, advanced peoples make conquest of nature for their 

 own behoof, while primitive peoples are largely creatures of environ- 

 ment; Caucasian citizens are self conscious lawmakers, while Amerind 

 tribesmen are semiconsciously dominated by mysteries fearsomely 



