McoEE] THE KILT AND WAMMUS 225* 



and XIX; the birdskin kilt (put on for the purpose) is illustrated iu 

 plate XVIII, while the aboriginal fabric is fairly represented in plate 

 XXIX. Although ordinarily worn as a kilt, the same article (tempora- 

 rily replaced by an improvised substitute) serves other purposes at the 

 convenience of the wearer; in the chase for tunas and for moving game 

 it becomes a bag or pack-sheet; iu case of cold rain it is shifted to the 

 shoulders or the exposed side; during the siesta it is elevated on a 

 shrub and a stick to serve as a canopy; at sleeping time generally it 

 forms (es])ecially when of birdskin) a bed, i. e., a combined mattress 

 and coverlet; and in attack or defense the pelican skin is at once stand- 

 ard, buckler, and waving capa to confuse quarry or enemy after the 

 manner of the toreador's cloak. 



•An almost equally distinctive garment is a short shirt or wammus, 

 with long sleeves, worn by men and women but not by children; ordi- 

 narily it covers the thorax, missing connection with the kilt by a few 

 inches, and so affording ventilation and space for suckling the teeming 

 offspring. Unlike the kilt, it is an actual garment, fitted with sleeves 

 and fastened in front with hair-cord strings. Although the Seri 

 wammus corresi)onds fairly with a Yaqui garment, it seems practically 

 certain that it is of local aboriginal design, and that it was made prim- 

 itively of haircloth or native textiles (as illustrated in plate xxix) and 

 woin rather ceremoniously; but latterly it is made of manta and is 

 worn habitually (at least by the women and on the frontier), though 

 cast aside in preparation for any special task or effort — i. e., it is not 

 connected with pudency-sense, save to a slight degree in the younger 

 women. The form, function, and prevalence of the wammus are illus- 

 trated by the group shown in plate xiii, in which nearly all of the 

 thirty-odd adults wear the garment. 



These two articles constitute the ordinary wearing apparel of the 

 Seri, though they are commonly supplemented (especially when both 

 are of manta) by a pelican-skin robe, which is habitually carried to 

 serve as bed or mackintosh, according to the chance of journey and 

 weather, or as a shield in sudden warfare. No head-covering is used, 

 save iu the ceremonial masquerade, when the heads of animals are worn 

 as masks,' or in aping Caucasian customs, especially on expeditions for 

 barter (as illustrated in plate xii). Loose trousers of Mexican [tattern 

 are sometimes put on at frontier points, but are discarded in Seriland 

 proper, save by Mashcm, who maintains prestige jiartly by this bor- 

 rowed badge of Caucasian superiority. Leggings and moccasins are 

 eschewed, naturally enough, since they would afford little protection 

 from the sharp spalls and savage thorns of the district, and would give 

 lodgment for the barbed spines inevitably gathered in rapid chase or 

 flight over cactus dotted stretches; and the only foot-covering seen 

 (save Mashem's boots) was a single sandal made from the rough skin 

 of a turtle-flipper, apparently for ceremonial rather than practical use. 



' Hardy (Travels, p. 298) describes the ceremonial wearing of the heads of deer with horns attached. 

 17 ETH 15 



