MCOEE] 



THE HAIR CULT 



229^ 



uniform iu size aud texture; an inferior exami^le appears in figure 34. 

 The manes and tails of liorses and other stock are also converted into 

 cordage, of wliich the chief known application is in toy riatas. It is of 

 no small significance that the most highly prized cordage material is 

 human hair, and that its chief uses are connected with the person ; that 

 the next in order of diminishing preciousness is that derived from the 

 fibrous ijlants, which is used in balsa-making, bowstrings, harpoon 

 cords, etc, as well as in the native fabrics; and that the least prized 

 material is that derived from imported animals, which is largely limited 

 in its utilization to youthfnl imitation of Caucasian industries ; for the 

 association of material with function reflects a distinctive feature of 



Fig. 34— Mesqaite- fiber rope. 



primitive thought, akin to that displayed in somewhat higher culture 

 as synecdochic magic, the doctrine of signatures, etc. 



Partly because of that decadence of aboriginal devices con-elated 

 with acculturation, partly by reason of imperfect observation, practi- 

 cally nothing is known of Seri spinning and weaving, and little of Seri 

 sewing. The religiously-guarded hair-combings are twisted in the 

 fingers and wonnd on stick-bobbins without aid of mechanical appli- 

 ances; aud, so far as has been observed, the final making of hair cords is 

 merely a continuation of the strictly manual process. The agave stipes 

 and mesquite roots are alleged by vaqueros to be retted in convenient 

 lagoons and barrancas (a statement corroborated by the finding of half 

 a dozen sections of mesquite root soaking in a lagoon near Punta Anti- 



