270* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.aiw.17 



order, the matron's eldest brother coining first, the younger brotliers 

 next, and finally the husband, who squats in, or outside of, the open end 

 of the bower. According to Mashem's iterated explanations, which 

 were corroborated by several elderwomen (notably the clanmother 

 known to the Mexicans as Juana Maria) and veritied by observation 

 of the family movements, the house and its contents belong exclusively 

 to the matron, though her brothers are entitled to jWaces within it 

 whenever they wish ; while the husband has neither title nor fixed 

 place, "because he belongs to another house" — though, as a matter of 

 fact, he is frequently at or in the hut of his spouse, where he normally 

 occupies the outermost place in the group and acts as a sort of outer 

 guard or sentinel. Conformably to their proprietary position, the mat- 

 rons have chief, if not sole, voice in extending and removing the 

 ranchcria; and such questions as that of the placement of a new jacal 

 are discussed animatedly among them and finally decided by the dictum 

 of the eldest in the group. The importance of the function thus exer- 

 cised by the women has long been noted at Costa Eica and other points 

 on the Seri frontier, for the raucherias are located and the initial jacal 

 erected commonly by a solitary matron, sometimes by two or three 

 aged dames; around this nucleus other matrons and their children 

 gather in the course of a day or two; while it is usually three or four 

 days, and sometimes a week, before the brothers and husbands skulk 

 singly or in small bauds into the new rancheria. 



Quite similar is the regimentation of the family groups as indicated 

 by tlie correlative ])rivileges iind duties as to placement, as well as the 

 I'eciprocal rights of command and the requii-ements of obedience. Ordi- 

 narily (especially when the men are not about) the elderwoman of the 

 iacal exercises unlimited privileges as to placement of both persons and 

 property, locating the ahst, the bedding, the Are (if any), and other i)os- 

 sessions at will, and assigning positions to the members of her family, 

 the nubile girls receiving especial attention; she is also the arbiter of 

 disputes, the distributor of food, etc; but in case of tumult, especially 

 when children from other jacales are present, she may invoke the author- 

 ity of the clanmother, whose powers in the rancheria are analogous to 

 those of the younger matrons in their own jacales. P^ven when the 

 men are present they take little part in the regulation of personal con- 

 duct, but tacitly accept the decision of matron or clanmother; yet in 

 emergencies any of the women are ready to appeal for aid in the exe- 

 cution of their will to a brother (preferably the elder brother) of the 

 family, or, if need be great, to the brothers of the clanmother. So far 

 as was observed, and so far as could be ascertained through informants, 

 these appeals are always for executive and never for legislative or 

 judicative cooperation ; but various general facts indicate that in times 

 of stress — in the heat of the chase, in the warpath -craze, etc — the men 

 bestir themselves into the initiative, while the women drop into an 

 inferior legislative i)lace. As an illustration of the ordination in some- 



