208* 



THE SERI INDIANS 



lETH, ANN. 17 



cliiefly in the form of wounded and dwarfed specimens, seems to indi- 

 cate that its original range comprised all Seriland; while its dearth 

 suggests destruction nearly to the verge of extinction by improvident 

 generations better armed with their hupfs and harpoons and shell cups 

 than the subhuman beasts against whom the plant is so well protected. 



Aside from the universally used hupf and ahst (which may be 

 regarded as differentiated implements or ^ools), the only special device 

 used in connection with vegetal food is the basket, or, rather, basketry 

 tray (illustrated in figure 24). This ware is of the widespread coil type 

 so characteristic of southwestern tribes. The coil is a wisp of stems 

 and splints of a fibrous yet spongy shrub, apparently torote; and the 

 woof consists of paloblauco ( ?) splints deftly intertwined by aid of an 

 awl. Tlie construction is fairly neat and remarkably uniform; the 



coiled wisps vary somewhat in size, both intentionally and inadvert- 

 ently, ranging from an average of three eighths of an inch toward the 

 bottoms of the larger specimens to half that diameter in the smaller 

 specimens and toward the margins of the larger. The initial coil 

 starts in an indefinite knot, rather than a button, at the center; and the 

 spiral is continuous throughout, the final coil being quite deftly worked 

 out to a single splint smoothly stitched to the next lower spii'ul with the 

 woof splints. The ware is practically water-tight, remarkably strong 

 and resilient, and <iuite durable in the dry climate of Seriland. Ordi- 

 narily tlie basket is abandoned when the bottom decays or breaks, but 

 an ancient specimen obtained on Isla Tiburon was roughly rebottomed 

 with a patch of sealskin attached by means of sinew. The baskets 

 are notably uniform in shape, though the size varies from 8 or tt inches 

 to fully 17 inches in diameter. 

 The most striking feature of the Seri basketry, as of the pottery, is 



