200* THE SERI INDIANS |eth.ann.17 



those so fully described by Hough,' and serves to explain the otherwise 

 obscure genesis of the flre-sense, which must have accompanied and 

 shaped that most signiticaut of all steps in human progress, the con- 

 quest of fire. 



The modern coordinate of the Seri arrow is the bow, made prefer- 

 ably from a straight and slender branch of the palo bianco. A typical 

 specimen is illustrated in plate xxx ; it is 4 feet 9i inches long, with 

 the outer face convex and the inner face iiat; greatest width If inches, 

 narrowed to 1^ inches at the hand-hold; thickness at the hand-hold 1 

 inch, thinning to five-eighths inch at 8 inches Irom this point; tapering 

 gradually in both dimensions toward the extremities, which are rudely 

 notched to receive the cord (of mesquite-root fiber). The S])ecimen 

 illustrated has been cracked and repaired in two places; in one place 

 the repair was eft'ected by a rough wrapping of sinew, and in the other 

 by slipping over the wood a natural sheath of rawhide from the leg of 

 a deer. The specimen is of added interest in that it combines bow 

 and nether fire-stick ("Strong-Kind-Mother"), one of the friction holes 

 being worn out to the notched margin, and the other remaining in 

 usable condition, as shown in the enlarged marginal drawing.^ 



Compared with the delicately finished and graceful arrow, the typ- 

 ical bow is a rude and clumsy device; it displays little skill in the 

 selection and shaping of material, and evidently involves little labor 

 in manufacture — indeed, the indications are that more actual labor is 

 spent in the construction of a single arrow than in the making of a 

 bow, while the arrow-making is expert work, betokening craft of a high 

 order, and the bownuikiug little more than simple handiwork of the 

 lowest order. The comparison affords some indication of the genesis 

 of Seri archery, and at the same time corroborates the independent 

 suggestion that the arrow is of so much greater antiquity than the 

 bow as to represent a distinct stage in cultural development —though 

 the precise cultural significance of the bow is not easily ascertained. 



Efforts were made to have different Seri warriors at Costa Eica in 1894 

 assume the normal archery attitude, with but moderate success, the 

 best pose obtained (illustrated in ])iate xxviii) being manifestly unnat- 

 ural and a mere reflection of the attitude in the mind of the Caucasian 

 poser; while the results of inquiries served only to indicate that the 

 normal archery attitude was purposely avoided for reasons not ascer- 

 tained. Fortunately another observer was more successful: in the 

 course of the United States hydographic surveys in 1873, Commander 

 (now Admiral) Dewey received several visits from Seri warriors on 

 board the Xarrdf/ansett; and on the occasion of one of these visits, Mr 

 Hector von Bayer, of the hydrographic party, caught a photograph of 

 an archer in the act of drawing his bow. The negative was accident- 



■Fire-making apparatus in the U. S. National Museum; Sioithsonian Report for 1888, pt ii, 1891), 

 pp. 531-587, and else-vvbero. 



'Ordinarily tliti nether lire-stick is of soft and porous wood, flotsam palm-wood and water-logged 

 pine being preferred. 



