212* THE SERI INDIANS [eth. ann. 17 



by faith and attendant ceremony; for the doubly consumed food is 

 credited with intensified powers and virtues, and hehl to be specially 

 X^otent in the relief of hunger and in giving endurance for the hard 

 warpath or prolonged chase; it is — and makes — very strong (*^muclio 

 fuerte" ), in the laconic and confident explanation of Mashem. Incon- 

 gruous as the custom is to higher culture, it finds natural suggestion 

 in the everyday habits of the tribe, who are wonted not only to the 

 eating of animal entrails in raw and uncleaned condition, but especially 

 to the relief of the sharpest pangs of hunger by means of the soft 

 structures and their semiassimilated contents — an association of much 

 influence in primitive thought. Concordantly with the custom and the 

 faith grown out of it, the excreta in general take a prominent place 

 in the Seri mind; the use of urine in ablution, etc, is little understood 

 and may be passed over; but all bony feces — and it may be noted that 

 the "sign" of the Seri more resembles that of wolves or snake-eating 

 swine than that of men — following gorges of large quarry are custom- 

 arily located and kept in mind for recourse in time of ensuing shortage, 

 when the mass is ground on the ahst and reconsumed; and even the 

 ordinary discbarge is preserved during the seasons of less reliable 

 food-supply. 



There is an obscure connection between this curious and repulsive 

 food custom of the Seri and the mortuary customs of the tribe, which 



to finish it. Twenty-four pounds of meat in twenty-four li()nrs is not deemed an extraordinary ration 

 for a single person, and to see anything eatahle befon- hini is a temptation for a Californian wbirh he 

 cannot resist; and not to make away with it before night would be a victory he is very seldom 

 capabk' of gaining over himself." 



Clavi^iTo's account of the food-habits of the California Indiiins is similar, though generally less 

 explicit. According to him the seeds forming the "second harver*t of pitahayas" are Rxtra<ted care- 

 fully while fresh, and are afterward roasted, ground, and preserved iu the form of meal against the 

 ensuing winter. Of thereswallowing habit, he says: 



"The savages living in the nortlierii part of the peninsula have found the secret, unknown to 

 mortals in general, to eat an<l re-eal the same meal repeatedly. They tie a string around a mouthful 

 of meat dried aiul hardened in the sun. After chewing it for a while thej' swallow it, leaving the string 

 hanging from the mouth. After two or thi-ee minutes, by means of the string they <lraw the meat up 

 again to be rechewed, and this they repeat as many times as maybe necessary until the morsel is 

 consumed or so softened that the string will not hold it any longer. In extracting it from the throat 

 they make such a noise that to one who has not before heard it it appears that they are choking 

 themselves. 



" When many individuals are gathered together to eat in this manuerit ia practiced with more cere- 

 mony. They seat themselves on the ground, forming a circle of eight or ten persons. One of them 

 takes the mouthful and swallows it. and afterwards draws it up again and passes it to the next one, 

 and this ()ne to another, proceeding thus around the circle with much enjoyment until the morsel is 

 consumed. This has astonished the Si)aniards who liave seen it, and indeed it would not be credible 

 jf it had not been unanimously testified to by all who have been in that country. Si-veral Jesuits wiio 

 did not believe this, notwithst:inding that sincere and prominent jiersons contirmed it, luiving after- 

 wards gone to (-'aliforma saw it with their own eyes. Among those Indians who have embraced 

 Christianity this loathsiiuie and dangerous method of eating has been abandoned in couseijuence of 

 the tonlirnuil reproofs of the missionaries." (Historia de la Antigua 6 liaja California, obra poatunia 

 del Padre Francisco .Tavier Clavijcro; Mexico, 1852, p. 24.) 



The records of Clavigero and Baegert indicate fair (correspondence in the food habits of the Califor- 

 nia Indians and the Seri, though th^re are certain notew«irthy differences, e. g., the ta\)u of the bailgor 

 anioDg the former and of the ground-squirrrel among the latter; it would also appear that the Cali- 

 fornians were the more largely vegetarian and the better advanced, in culinary processes. The cus- 

 toms of the Seri throw light on the genesis of '" re-eating'", for the process would ajijiear to be but an 

 extension nf the repeated mouthing and swallowing of tendouous strings still attached to the bones of 

 larger animals. 



