S ERIE AND 
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abound. The rattlesnake, scor[)ion, centipede, and tarantula 
furnish spice for the fare of the traveler, while rainbow-hned 
swifts and somber, slow-moving lizards of alleged poisonous bite 
harbor numerously in the scattered plant colonies. Ground- 
squirrels and kangaroo-rats are common. On some ])ortions of 
the island the squirrels abound exceedingl}^ so that the land is 
laid out in hexagons by their surface trails, while each third or 
fifth footfall of the pedestrian stops half knee-deep in subsurface 
burrows. There are ants galore, and myriads of black bugs that 
apparently fertilize the cacti, but mosquitoes, gnats, and other 
])ernicious insects are apparently unknown. The cooperation of 
the vegetation extends unto the animate life of plain and moun- 
tain to the extent that all living things dwell together in singu- 
larl}’’ perfect harmony ; but this feature of the life may be passed 
over. Along the coast the green turtle abounds and forms the 
chief fare of the Indians, and his shells shingle the more perma- 
nent house-bowers. Fish and crustaceans swarm, edible crabs 
and oysters and superb lobsters await gathering, and clams 
sprinkle the coastwise mud flats. The gray pelican breeds on 
Isla Tassne — the first-formed land of earth as built by the Ancient 
of Pelicans, in Seri myth, — and his flesh feeds, while his feathered 
skins clothe, the ever-warring holders of Seriland; and other 
water-fowl, from swan to snipe and from cormorant to curlew, 
chatter and scream and croak about the rocky islets and si)urs, 
especially on the fowls’ paradise of Isla Tassne. The seal crec))s 
up on the rocks now and then, the shark scavengers the sea as 
the coyote the land, and the skeleton of a whale fully 80 feet 
long on the shores of Tiburon records a famous feast of the Seri 
when for weeks they found no need for hunting and fishing and 
for months gnawed gradually softening tendon and cartilage. 
'I'he subdesert fauna of Seriland is meager and peculiar, but the 
maritime fauna of the coasts is rich and varied. 
The fierce holders of desert-bouml Seriland have ]>rotected 
their inheritance from time immemorial, and since the time of 
Coronado have written their history in blood. Throe of their 
many interesting characteristics are especially notable : 'riiey are 
isolated in language, belief, custom, and sympathy as in habitat; 
they are dominated 1)V a moral law under which intermarriage 
with other [)eoples is ca[)ital crime and under which they attain 
righteou.mess by slaying humans of alien blood with only greater 
avidity than beasts are slain, always save when dctemal by f(>ar ; 
and they are of a stature, strength, and endurance befitting their 
hard and eventful lives. 
