McoEE] EFFECTIVENESS OF TURTLE TACKLE 189* 



mouly the carapace and tlie longer bones from tbetiii)pers of the larger 

 specimens are preserved entire for otiier uses, and are cleaned only by 

 teeth and talons and tongues, aided by time but not by fire; but the 

 plastron, unless broken up and consumed immediately, is subjected to 

 a cooking process in which it serves at once as skillet and cutlet — it is 

 laid on the fire, flesh side up, and at intervals the shriveling tissues are 

 clawed off and devoured, while at last the scorched or charred scutes 

 themselves are carried away to be eaten at leisure.' 



Perhaps the most significant fact connected with the Seri turtle- 

 fishing is the excellent adaptation of means to ends. The graceful and 

 effective balsa is in large measure au a])purtenance of the industry; 

 the harpoon is hardly heavier and is much simpler than a trout-fishing 

 tackle, yet serves for the certain cai)tureof a L'OO pound turtle; and the 

 art of fisliing for a quarry so shy and elusive that Caucasians may spend 

 weeks on the shores without seeing a specimen is reduced to a perfec- 

 tion even transcending that of sucli artifacts as the light harpoon and 

 fragile olla. Hardly less significant is the nonuse of that nearly uni- 

 versal implement, the knife, in every stage of the taking and consumption 

 of the characteristic tribal prey; for it may fairly be inferred that the 

 comparative inutility of the knife in dissevering the hard and horny 

 chelonian derm, and (he comparative effectiveness of the shell-bi'eaking 

 and bone-crushing hupf, have reacted cumulatively on the instincts of 

 the tribe to retard the adoption of cuttingdevices. Of much significance, 

 too, is the limited cooking process; for the liabitual consumption of raw 

 flesh betokens a fireless ancestry at no remote stage, while the crude 

 cooking of (and in) that portion of the shell not consecrated to other 

 uses might well form the germ of broiling or Ijoiling on the one hand and 

 of culinary utensils on the other hand. On the whole, the Seri turtle 

 industry indicates a delicate adjustment of both vital andactivital pro- 

 cesses to a distinctive environment, in which the abundant chelonian 

 fauna ranks as a prime factor. 



Analogy with other primitive peoples would indicate that the flesh of 

 the turtle is probably tabu to the Turtle clau, that the consumption of 

 the quarry is preceded by an oblation, and that there are seasonal or 

 other ceremonial rites connected with turtle-fisliiug; but no information 

 has been obtained on any of these points save a few vague and unwill- 

 ing suggestions from Mashi^m tending to establish the analogy. 



Flotsam and stolen metal have played a role in the industries of 

 Seriland so long that it is difficult to learn much of the turtle fishing 



■ These details were I'urnislied largely by Mashem and Sefior Encinas, but were verified in essentials 

 by personal observation of dietetic customs at Costa Kica in 1894; and they were corroborated by 

 observations on both shores of El Intiernillo and liahia Kunkaak in 1895. Especially significant were 

 the remnants of a turtle feast on the southern beach of Punta Miguel interrupted by tlu5 approach of 

 the exploring party. The indications were clear that the turtle had been landed and largely consiirued 

 before the fire was kindled, and that the eo(»king of tlic tirnicr portions had harilly been commenced 

 before the catnp was abandoned so liurriedly tliat not only the nearly eaten turtle and the glowing 

 embers, but the hai'poon (tlie 8i»ecimen illustrated in figure 2U), the still bloody and greasy liujif (Ihat 

 represented in plate Liv), ami the fire-sticks wen- left behind. Gnawed fragments of charred jilastroua 

 are common relics about hastily abandoned camps generally. 



