198* THE SERI INDIANS |eih. ann.17 



placed wing-feathers of hawk or falcon, neatly prepared by removing 

 a thiu strip of the rachis bearing the wider vexilluiu and attaching it 

 by sinew wrappings at both ends, the feathers being about 5i inches 

 in length. The nock is a simple rounded notch, placed just below a 

 joint and supjjorted by the sinew ferrule; there is no foot-plug. The 

 favorite point is a bit of flotsam hoop-iron, ground into elongate 

 triangular shape with projecting barbs, and a short _tang or shank 

 fitted into a shallow notch in the foreshaft, cemented there with mes- 

 quite gum, and finally fixed firmly with sinew wrappings. A typical 

 iron-point arrow, with bow and quiver, is depicted in plate xxx. Alter- 

 native points are of rudely chipped stone (two examples are illustra- 

 ted in figure 37) somewhat clumsily attached to the foreshaft by 

 mesquite gum and sinew wrapping; while the arrows used by boys 

 and hunters of small game are usually pointless, the tip of the fore- 

 shaft being sharpened and hardened by slight charring. In some of 

 the arrows, especially those designed for use in war, the foreshaft is 

 notched, or else loosely attached to the main shaft, in order that it may 

 be detached from the main shaft and remain in the body of enemy 

 or prey. The foreshaft is commonly painted some bright color (red is 

 prevalent), while the points and attachments of the "poisoned" speci- 

 mens are smeared with some greasy substance. 



The aboriginal Seri arrow has undoubtedly been modified during the 

 centuries since the coming of Cortes and Meudoza with their metal- 

 armed troopers; yet certain inferences as to the indigenous form ot the 

 weapon are easily drawn from its construction and the homologies of 

 its parts. 



Tlie first feature of the artifact to attract attention is the relative 

 clumsiness of attachment and fre(iuent absence of points. The chipped- 

 stone points are so rude as to be quite out of harmony with the other- 

 wise delicately wrought and graceful arrow, while the attachment is 

 strikingly rude; and it is still more noteworthy that the very name for 

 stone arrowpoint was little understood at Costa Rica, and was obtained 

 only after extended inquiry and I'epeated conferences among the older 

 informants. Even the attachment of the efi'ective points made from 

 hoop-iron is bad constructionally; the sinew wrapping is carried 

 around the entire blade in such manner as to sheathe the sharply 

 ground edges and itself be cut on contact with firm tissue; and the 

 fitting and wrapping are so rude as to be incongruous with the rest 

 of the api^aratus. On the whole the suggestion is strong that the 

 arrowpoint is accultural — and this suggestion is further strengthened 

 by the very existence of the practically functionless, and hence mani- 

 festly vestigial, hard-wood foreshaft. Turning to the structural homol- 

 ogies, the observer is at once struck with the parallelism tunning 

 through the three most conspicuous compound artifacts found among 

 the Seri, i. e., the harpoon, the tire-drill, and the arrow. All of these 

 alike consist of two essential parts, main shaft and foreshaft; all are 



