186* 



THE SERI INDIANS 



[ETH. ANN. 17 



sizii), laid inverted in the jacales ; these shells also beiug used in natural 

 condition. No wrought shells, molluscan or chelonian, were observed 

 in use or found either in the jacales or on the hundreds of aban- 

 doned sites; but the vicinage of the rancherias, the abandoned camps 

 and house sites, and the more frequented paths are bestrewn with 

 slightly worn shells, evidently used for a time and then lost or dis 

 carded. The relative abundance of the fictile ware and this natural 

 shell ware in actual use is about 1:3; i. e., each adult female 

 usually possesses a single olla of the conventional type, and there may 

 be one or two extra ollas and two or three clay dishes in each band or 

 clan, while each matron or marriageable maid is usually supplied with 

 two to four shell-cups and each little girl with one or two; and there 

 are twice as many carapace trays asclay dishes. The disproportion of 



Fig. 19— Shell-cnp. 



pottery and shell about the abandoned sites is naturally much greater; 

 for the former is the most higlily prized industrial possession of the 

 women, while the shells are easily gained and lightly lost. 



With respect to solid food the Seri may be deemed omniverous 

 though their adjustment to habitat is such that they are practically 

 carniverous. 



The most conspicuous single article in the dietary of the tribe is the 

 local green turtle. This chelonian is remarkably abundant throughout 

 Gulf of California; but its optimum habitat and breeding-place would 

 appear to be El Infiernillo, whose sandy beaches are probably better 

 adapted to egg laying and hatching than any other part of the coast. 

 Here it has been followed by the Seri; perhaps half of the aggregate 

 life of the tribe is spent within easy reach of its feeding and breeding 

 grounds, and tribesman and turtle have entered into an inimical com- 



