218* 



THE SERI INDIANS 



when completely wet; so that it could easily be picked up by tbree or 

 four, or even by two, strong men and carried ashore to be hiddeu in the 

 fog-shrubbery skirting the coast. The craft floated higli with one man 

 aboard, rode better with two, carried three witliout much difficulty even 

 in a fairly heavy sea, and would safely bear four adults aggregating 

 600 pounds (272 kilograms) in moderate water. The most striking 

 features of the craft afloat are its graceful movement and its perfect 

 adaptation to variable seas and loads. The lines are symmetric and of 

 great delicacy, as indicated even by the photograpiis out of its element; 

 the reed-bundles are yielding, partly by resilience and partly in the way 

 of set, so that the body of the craft curves to fit the weight and distri- 

 bution of the load and to meet the impact of swells and breakers. In 

 smooth water a lightly laden balsa may appear heavy and logy, but 

 with a heavier load and stronger sea each tapering end rises strongly 

 and then recurves slightly in a Hogarthian line graceful as the neck of a 

 swan, while the whole craft skims the waves or glides sinuously over their 



Fig. 27— The balsa afloat. 



crests in a lightsome way, recalling the easy movement of gull or petrel. 

 A suggestion of its effect is shown in figure 27, a composite drawn largely 

 from photographs; another suggestion is shown in tigHre28, reproduced 

 in facsimile from a drawing by the artist of the U. S. S. Narragaiisett 

 in 1873,' the oidy known picture of the craft antecedent to the 1895 

 expedition. 



Almost equally striking features of the balsa are its efficiency and 

 safety under the severe local conditions. Carrying twice its weight of 

 (chiefly) living freight, it breasts gales and rides breakers and stems 

 tiderips that would crush a canoe, swamp a skiff, or capsize a yawl; 

 while if caught in currents or surf and cast ashore it is seldom wrecked, 

 but drops lightly on beach or rocks, to be pushed uninjured by the 

 broken wave-tips beyond the reach of pounding rollers, even if it is 

 not at once caught up by its passengers and carried to complete safety. 

 The strength of the craft is amazing, especially in view of the slender- 



■ Publication No. 56, 17. S. Hytirographio Office, Bureau of Navigation, 1880, plate XV, p. 136. 



1 



