222* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.17 



of the buildiug process may be said to end; for up to this point the proc- 

 ess is a collective one and the materials are essentially uniform, while 

 thereafter the completion of the work depends largely on individual or 

 family caprice, and the materials are selected at random. Moreover, 

 the framework is fairly permanent, usually surviving a number of occu- 

 ])ancies extending over months or years, and outlasting an equal num- 

 ber of outer coverings; so that all habitable Seriland is dotted sparsely 

 with Jacal skeletons, sometimes retaining fragments of walls or roof, 

 but oftener entirely denuded. 



The conversion of the framework into a habitable jacal is effected by 

 piling around and over it any convenient shrubbery, by which it is made 

 a sort of bower; sometimes the conversion is aided by the attachment 

 of additional tie sticks both above and below the main horizontal pieces, 

 as illustrated in the upper figure of plate ix ; sometimes, too, the material 

 of walls and roof is carefully selected and interwoven with such pains as 

 to form a rude thatch, as in the chief jacal at Eada Ballena (the upper 

 figure in plate Vi): but more commonly the covering is collected at 

 random and is laid so loosely that it is held in place only by gravity and 

 wind i)ressure, and may be dislodged by a change of wind. Ordinarily 

 the walls are thicker and denser than the roofs, which are supplemented 

 in time of occupancy bj' haunches of venison, remnaiital quarters of cattle 

 and horses, half-eaten turtles, hides and pelts, as well as bird-skin robes, 

 thrown on the bows partly to keep them out of reach of coyotes and 

 partly' to aftbrd shade. Most of the jacales about the old rancheria at 

 PuntaTormenta (abandoned at "TheTimeof the Big Fish''), which may 

 be regarded as the center of the turtle industry, are irregularly clap- 

 boarded with turtle-shells and with sheets of a local sponge, as illus- 

 trated in plate vii. This sponge abounds in the bight of Eada Ballena, 

 where at high water it s])reads over the silty bottom in a slimy sheet, 

 and at low water with ott'-shore gales is left by the waters to dry into a 

 light and fairly tenacious mat, which is gathered in sheets for bedding as 

 well as for house making material (a specimen of the sponge — probably 

 Chalina — is shown on larger scale in plate viii). On the frontier the 

 jacales may be modified by the introduction of sawed or riven lumber, 

 as illustrated by some of the structures at Costa Eica (shown in plate 

 XI) ; but even here there is a strong disposition to adhere to the cus- 

 tomary form, and especially to the conventional framework, as indicated 

 by the example in plate x. 



While the jacales are not consistently oriented, they reveal a primary 

 preference for facing away from the prevailing wind and toward the 

 nearest sea, with a secondary preference for southern and eastern expo- 

 sures — the former preference being easily explaiued, since a gale from 

 the front quickly strips walls and roof and scatters the materials afar. 

 No definite order is observed in the placement of the several jacales in 

 the larger rancherias ; apparently the first is located at the choice of the 

 leading elderwoman, and the others are clustered about it at the com- 



