MCGEE] LIGHTNESS OF THE BASKETRY 209* 



extreme liglituess in proportion to capacity, a qualitj^ due to the spongy 

 character of the torote coil and to the thinness of the splints used in the 

 woof. Tlie inside dimensions, weight, and dry-meastne (lapacity (tilled 

 to the level of the brim with rice) of two typical specimens approach- 

 ing extremes in size are indicated in the accompanying table. A.s 

 noted elsewhere, the ware is absolutely without decorative devices 

 in weave, ])aiut, or form; it is baldly utilitarian, a model of economy 

 in material and in the balance between structure and function, approach- 

 ing in this respect the thin-walled cantecn-olla, the graceful balsa, and 

 the light but eftective harpoon. The struittuial correspondence of the 

 ware to a widespread tyi)e and its limited use among the tribe suggest 

 an accultural origin for the Seri basketry; but the delicate adjustment 

 of means to end.? in the manufacture and the strictly local character 

 of the material (piite as strongly suggest an indigenous development. 



It is irai)0ssible to portray justly the food habits of the Seri without 

 some reference to a systematic scatophagy, which seems to possess 

 fiducial as well as economic features. In its simplest asi)ect this custom 

 is connected with the tuna harvests; the fruits are eaten in enormous 

 (juantity, and are imperfectly digested, the hard coated vseeds especially 

 passing through the system unchanged ; the feces containing these seeds 

 are preserved with some care, and after the harvest is passed the hoard 

 (desiccated, of course, in the dry climate) is ground between hupf and 

 ahst, and winnowed in baskets precisely as are the mes(iuite beans; and 

 the product is then eaten either dry or in the form of atole like the 

 mesfpiite meal. In superficial view this food factor is the precise homo- 

 logue of the "second harvest" of the California Indians as described 

 by Clavigero, Baegert,' and others; but it gains importance, among 



'An Account of the Aboriginal InhabiUmts of the Californian Peninsula, as given by Jacob Baegert, 

 a German Jesuit niis-sionary. . . . Translated and arranged for the Smithsonian Institution by 

 Charles Kau; Ann. Kep. Smithsonian Inst, for 1863, pp. 352-369. Baegert's account of foods (pp. 363- 

 367) is so apposite as to be worthy of quotation nearly entire: ^ 



"Xotwithstanding the barrenne-s of tlie country, a Califoraian hardly e\er dies of hunger, except, 

 perhaps, now and tliou an individual that falls sick in the wilderness and at a great diatanee from the 

 mission, for those who are in good health trouble themselves very Jittle about such patieiits, even if 

 these should liappen t<> be their husbands, wives, or other relations; and a little child that has lost its 

 mother or both parents is also occasionally in danger of starving to death, because in some instances no 

 one will take charge of it, the father being sometimes inhuman enough to abandon his offspring to its 

 fate. 



•'The food of the Calitomians, as will he seen, is certainly of a mean quality, yet it keeps them in a 

 hi'altliy condition, and they become strong and grow old in spite of their poor diet. The only period 

 of the year during which the Californians can satisfy their appetite without restraint is the season of 

 the jiitahayas, which ripen in ihe middle of June and abound for more than eight weeks. The gather- 

 ing of thi.s fruit may he considered as the harvest of the native inhabitants. They can eat as much of 

 it as they please, and witli some this food agrees so well that they become corpulent during that i>eriod; 

 and for thi.s reason I was sometimes unable to recognize at first sight individuals, otherwise jicrfectly 

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