298* THE SERI INDIANS [ETH.ANy.l7 



they class themselves as much more nearly akin to their bestial asso- 

 ciates than to any alien tribe or people; and hence that their speech is 

 necessarily zooglossic in considerable, if not unequaled, measure. It 

 is to be remembered, too, that the law of activital coincidences finds 

 fullest exemplilication iu lowest culture, as has been already shown, and 

 as the zooglossic character of theSeri speech would imply; so that a con- 

 siderable proportion of fortuitous resemblances might be anticipated. 

 Finally, it is to be remembered that despite the extreme i)rovincia]ity 

 connected with their unpai'alleled race-sense, the folk have been iu 

 known contact with Caucasian and Amerind aliens for nearly four cen- 

 turies, and have been steadily, albeit with exceeding slowness, absorb- 

 ing alien activities and activital products. 



In the light of the history and condition of the Seri, a summary of 

 their vocabulary is of much interest. It is as follows: 



Known vocables 700 J^ 



Distiuctive teiuis 6S2-(- 



Terms shared with other tongues 18 j;; 



Terms connotiug Caucasiau concepts H± 



Onomatopes ami associative demonstratives 5^ 



Term shared with the Cochimi . 1 



Term borrowed from the Pimau 1 



Total IS-t- 



Total 700± 



On weighing this tabulation, in which no allowance is made for 

 coincidences, it becomes evident that the Seri tongue is essentially 

 discrete. The tabulation, accordingly, justifies and establishes the 

 classifications of Pimentel and Orozco y Berra, under which the Seri, 

 with their collinguals, are erected into a distinct linguistic stock. 



Pending further research and the comi)letion of the linguistic collec- 

 tions, it is deemed inexpedient to publish the Seri vocabulary in full, 

 though the material has been compared, analyzed, and arranged 

 systematically as was practicable by Mr J. X. B. Hewitt; and his com- 

 parative tables and discussions, which comprise all the terms suggest- 

 ing aftinity withlLuman and other aboriginal languages, are appended. 

 His morphologic analyses and comparisons are especially noteworthy 

 in that they demonstrate that the Seri language is essentially diflereut 

 in structural relations — or in its genius — from the Yumau tongues of 

 neighboring territory. 



