780 
environment, of somatic and mental relation- 
ship, of tribal and individual expressions, of 
isolation and Wanderlust, of race antagonisms 
and human affections, of labor and repose, of 
the matter-of-fact and the mystical, can hardly 
be exaggerated, since, as he claims, with seem- 
ing justice, ‘the Seri must be assigned to the 
initial place in the scale of development repre- 
sented by the American aborigines, and hence 
to the lowest recognized phase of savagery’ 
(p. 295). The environment of the Seris consists 
of the broad Desierto Encinas (the eastern 
boundary), the mountainous zone of Sierra Seri, 
Tiburon Island (with adjacent islets), the navi- 
gable straits and bays about the islands and the 
mainland. The mainland is a sort of a de- 
pendency, for Tiburon Island (the eastern shore 
especially) is the real home of the Seris. To 
their dwelling chiefly on the prolific seashore 
of Tiburon Dr. McGee attributes the fact that 
the Seris ‘never learned the hard lesson of 
desert solidarity,’ and so have ‘ held aloof from 
that communality of the deserts which has 
brought so many tribes into union with each 
other and with their animal and vegetal neigh- 
bors through common strife against the common 
enemies of sun and sand—the communality ex- 
pressed in the distribution of vital colonies over 
arid plains, in the toleration and domestication 
of animals, in the development of agriculture, 
and eventually in the shaping of a comprehen- 
sive solidarity, with the intelligence of the 
highest organisms as the controlling factor’ (p. 
133). The isolation of the Seris is reflected in 
their enmity towards aliens—the Papagos, the 
Yaquis, the Caucasians—an enmity which re- 
moves them in thought and life from all con- 
temporaries so that ‘they far out-Ishmael the 
Ishmael of old on Araby’s deserts.’ The local 
antipathy is even greater than the race antagon- 
ism for the whites, who have been sometimes 
tolerated for a time as food-bringers or wonder- 
workers. This antagonism’ amounts to obses- 
sion, and is ‘crystallized into a cult’; yet 
among themselves, we are told, ‘they were 
fairly cheerful, and the families were unobtru- 
sively affectionate’—maternal affection, espe- 
cially, is strong. 
The waters about Seriland, as some of the 
Spanish names—E] Infiernillo, Sal-si-puedes, 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Von. XIII. No. 333. 
etc.—indicate, are very stormy and dangerous 
to navigation, but ‘the fierce currents and fre- 
quent storms of the region * * * have un- 
doubtedly contributed to the development of 
the peculiarly light, strong and serviceable 
water-craft [balsas] of the aboriginal naviga- 
tors among the islands’ (p. 45). The primary 
resource of Seriland is potable water, and the 
springs and water-holes are few and far be- 
tween. Yet it is the tribal policy (based per- 
haps on military instincts) to ‘locate habita- 
tions in places surprisingly remote from running 
water’ (p. 183). This has naturally developed 
the water-industry, and it is not strange that 
the Seris ‘are essentially and primarily water- 
carriers, and all their other industries are sub- 
ordinated to this function.’ As remarkable as 
their conquest of the stormy sea is the Seri in- 
vention of an olla or water-jar, which, in so far 
as capacity is related to weight of vessel, is 
about twice as economical as the corresponding 
ware of the Pueblos or the Papagos. These 
Indians seem to have conquered the desert also 
in this respect. The basketry of the Seris is 
likewise of very noticeable lightness. 
Among the most striking physical character- 
istics of the Seris are ‘the noble stature and 
erect yet easy carriage,’ the dark color of the 
skin, breadth and depth of chest, ‘ slenderness 
of limbs and disproportionately large size of 
extremities (especially the feet),’ long and 
luxuriant hair, and ‘a peculiar movement in 
walking and running.’ But a single Seri 
skeleton has been scientifically studied, and the 
details of the measurements, as given by Dr. 
Ales Hrdli¢ka, occupy pages 141-147 of the 
work under review. The skeletal facts con- 
firm the deductions from the living body as to 
the slowness of the organism in attaining 
maturity—somatic growth continues ‘ through- 
out an exceptionally long term in proportion 
to other stages in the life of the individual.’ 
The range of variation in stature, color, 
etc., is less than is the case with neigh- 
boring Indian tribes. The segregative habit 
and antagonism to aliens—‘ protean manifes- 
tations of race-pride’—amount to what Dr. 
McGee calls race-sense. Indeed, the Seri are 
so close to each other and so far from all 
others that a member of the tribe ‘ can no more 
