A MEXICAN LAND OF CANAAN 



325 



Photograph by Dane Coolidge 

 YAOUI BOY SOLDIERS AND THEIR SIGNAL DRUM OE DRIED DEERSKIN 



olla. She would take a ball of red mud 

 (brought from the high part of the is- 

 land), roll it between her palms into a 

 rope-like shape, then build onto the grow- 

 ing vessel. Finally, she would wet the 

 clay strips in her mouth and shape the 

 vessel with her hands and a clam-shell. 



Mongrel dogs, lean and shivering, 

 skulked about, nosing into an olla of 

 chopped deer meat, from which women 

 and children were also eating. 



''How many dogs have you?" I asked 

 of the Chief. ' 



"I don't know ; I can't count," he said. 



He made the same answer when I 

 asked him how many Seris there were. 

 I judge, however, that there are not more 

 than 200 Indians on the island. 



THE MAGIC OE BRASS BUTTONS EVEN ON 

 TIBURON 



These Indians have practically nothing 

 to trade ; all they offered us were a few 

 small pearls, deerskins, abalone shells, and 

 one or two crude but water-tight baskets. 



One of our party offered small coins to 

 a little girl to induce her to pose for a 

 picture. She ran away. A tender of the 

 money to her mother made no impres- 

 sion ; but a few bright brass buttons (yes ! 

 even on Tiburon !) cut from the uniform 

 of a petty officer closed the transaction. 



Such rags as the Seris wear they se- 

 cure from time to time from stray fisher- 

 men or hunters who go up the Gulf and 

 call out of curiosity at Tiburon. 



Incredible as it sounds, these people 

 were subsisting wholly on fish, bird eggs, 

 and meat. The Chief begged us for flour 

 and sugar, saying they had had none for 

 months. 



Certain Yaqui outlaws once fled to Ti- 

 buron. Governor Izabel, of Sonora, sent 

 word to the Seris, offering a reward for 

 the capture of the Yaquis. 



"Bring them in with their hands tied." 

 the messenger told the Seris in sign lan- 

 guage. 



Perhaps the sign was misunderstood : 

 anyway, what the Seris brought in were 



