The Seri Indians 



279 



of his spouse, where he normally occu- 

 pies the outermost place in the group 

 and acts as a sort of outer guard or 

 sentinel. Conformably to their pro- 

 prietary position, the matrons have 

 chief, if not sole, voice in extending and 

 removing the rancheria; and such ques- 

 tions as that of the placement of a new 

 jacal are discussed animatedly among 

 them and are finally decided by the dic- 

 tum of the eldest in the group. The im- 

 portance of the function thus exercised 

 by the women has long been noted at 

 Costa Rica and other points on the Seri 

 frontier, for the rancherias are located 

 and the initial jacal is erected commonlj^ 

 by a solitary matron, sometimes by two 

 or three aged dames; around this nu- 

 cleus 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 broth- 

 ers and husbands skulk singly or in 

 small bands into the new rancheria. 



MARRIAGE 



The most striking and significant 

 social facts discovered among the Seri 

 relate to marriage customs. 



As noted repeatedly elsewhere, the 

 tribal population is preponderantly femi- 

 nine, so that polygyny naturally pre- 

 vails ; the number of wives reaches three 

 or possibly four, averaging about two, 

 though the younger warriors commonly 

 have but one, and there are always a 

 number of spouseless (widowed) dames, 

 but no single men of marriageable age.. 

 So far as could be ascertained, no special 

 formalities attend the taking of super- 

 numerary wives, who are usually wid- 

 owed sisters of the first spouse. It seems 

 to be practically a family affair, governed 

 by considerations of convenience rather 

 than established regulations — an irregu- 

 larity combining with other facts to sug- 

 gest that polygyny is incidental, and 

 perhaps of comparatively recent origin. 



The primary mating of the Seri is at- 



tended by observances so elaborate as to 

 show that marriage is one of the pro- 

 foundest sacraments of the tribe, pene- 

 trating the innermost recesses of tribal 

 thought, and interwoven with the essen- 

 tial fibers of tribal existence. Few, if 

 any, other peoples devote such anxious 

 care to their mating as do the Seri,* 

 and among no other known tribe or folk 

 is the moral aspect of conjugal union so 

 rigorously guarded by collective action 

 and individual devotion. 



The initial movement toward formal 

 marriage seems to be somewhat indef- 

 inite (or perhaps, rather, spontaneous). 

 According to Mashem, it may be made 

 either by the prospective groom or by 

 his father, though not directly by the 

 maiden or her kinswomen. In any event 

 the prerequisites for the union are pro- 

 visionally determined in the suitor's 

 family. These relate to the suitability 

 of age, the propriety of the clan rela- 

 tion, etc., for no stripling may seriously 

 contemplate matrimony until he has en- 

 tered manhood (apparently correspond- 

 ing with the warrior class), nor can he 

 mate in his own totem, though all other 

 clans of the tribe are apparently open to 

 him, while the maiden must have passed 

 (apparently by a considerable time) her 

 pubert}^ feast. In any event, too, the 

 proposal is formally conveyed by the 

 elderwoman of the suitor's family to 

 the maiden's clanmother, when it is dul)^ 

 pandered, first by this dame and her 

 daughter matrons, and later (if the pro- 

 posal is entertained) it is deliberated and 

 discussed at length by the matrons of 

 the two clans involved, who commonly 

 hold repeated councils for the purpose. 

 At an undetermined stage and to an un- 

 determined degree the maiden herself is 

 consulted ; certainly she holds the power 

 of veto, ostensible if not actual. Pend- 



* Perhaps the closest parallel in this respect 

 is that found in the elaborate marriage regula- 

 tions prevailing among the Australian aborig- 

 ines, as described by Spencer and Gillen, Walter 

 E. Roth, and other modern observers. 



