190* THE SEKl INDIANS [ethaxn.17 



during premetal times; but an intimation from Mashem that the old 

 men tliought it much better to take tlie turtle with the teeth of an 

 "animal that goes in the water'', and the similarity in terms for "har- 

 poon"' (or arrow) aiid " teeth " both suggest that the aboriginal point may 

 have been a sea-lion tooth, and that the foreshaft itself may have been 

 a larger tooth of seal or cetacean. While the modern harpoon is shaped 

 with the aid of metal (hoop-iron, etc.), the forms are quite evidentlj' 

 vestigial of knifeless manufacture, in which a naturally i-ounded or 

 abraded or fire-sliaped foreshaft was fitted into the natural socket 

 afforded by a caue stalk broken at its weakest po.int — i.e., just below the 

 joint; and both function and socket arrangement (as well as the lin- 

 guistic evidence) strongly suggest the cylindrical tooth as the germ of 

 the apparatus. 



It is probable that water-fowl, considered collectively, stand second 

 in importance as Seri prey; and the foremost fowl is undoubtedly the 

 pelican, which serves not only as a fruitful food-supply but as the chief 

 source of apparel. 



The principal haunt and only known breeding ground of the pelican 

 in the Gulf of California is Isla Tassne, an integral part of Seriland; and 

 while the great birds are doubtless taken occasionally in Bahia Kuu- 

 kaak. El Infiernillo, Bahia Tepoka, and other Seri waters, this island 

 is the principal pelican hunting ground. According to Mashem's 

 account, the chase of the pelican here is a well organized collective 

 process: at certain seasons, or at least at times deemed propitious by 

 the shamans, pelican harvests are planned; and after some days of 

 preparation a large party assemble at a certain convenient point (pre- 

 sumably Punta Antigualla) and await a still evening in the dark of the 

 moon. When all conditions are favorable they set out for the island 

 at late twilight, in order that it may be reached after dark; on ap- 

 proaching the shore the balsas are left in charge of the women, while 

 the warriors and the larger boys, armed only with clubs, rush on the 

 roosting fowls and slaughter them in great numbers — the favorite 

 coup de grace being a blow on the neck. The butchery is followed by a 

 gluttonous feast, in which the half-famished families gorge the tenderer 

 parts in the darkness, and noisily carouse in the carnage until overcome 

 by slumber. Next day the matrons select the carcasses of least injured 

 lilumage and carefully remove the skins, the requisite incisions being 

 made either with the edge of a shell-cup or with a sharp sliver of cane- 

 stalk taken from an injured arrow or a broken balsa-cane. The feast 

 holds for several days, or until the last bones are picked and the whole 

 party sated, when the clans scatter at will, laden with skins and 

 lethargic from the fortnight's food with which each maw is crammed. 



Mashem's recital gave no indication as to whether the Pelican clan 

 participate in the hunting orgies, though it clearly implies that the 

 chase and feast are at least measurably ceremonial in character; and 

 this implication was strengthened by the interest and comparative 



