32G 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Frederick Simpich 



A VIOLIN VIRTUOSO OF TIBURON 



The instrument of this fiddling- Seri — a square of dried hide, a notched stick, played with 

 a dried-reed bow — is primitive. But the music? "Ah, some jazz," pronounced the syncopa- 

 tion expert of the party, a negro sailor from the "States." 



the hands of the Yaquis, cut off and tied 

 on a pole ! 



Mexican observers say there is no 

 marriage among the Seris ; that they 

 simply mate. There are no priests nor 

 medicine men, though many Seri babies 

 in years past were taken to Hermosillo 

 for baptism in the churches there. To 

 mourn, they cut off their hair and paint 

 their faces black. They place their dead 

 in mesquite brush and dry them. 



When I got back to Guaymas, I learned 

 from government records there that Juan 

 Tomas' real name is "Coyote-Iguana," 

 and that he is not a Seri at all. Years 

 ago Seris captured a Spanish girl as she 

 was traveling from Guaymas to Hermo- 

 sillo, and look her to Tiburon. At that 

 time the island chief was a stalwart Pa- 

 pago, who had also been kidnaped as a 

 child. J lis vigor and shrewdness eventu- 

 ally enabled him to become ruler of the 

 Seris, and he tools the Spanish girl as his 



mate. The present chief, Juan Tomas, is 

 the child of this couple. 



Years ago a Mexican punitive expedi- 

 tion went to Tiburon, and while there of- 

 fered to take the Spanish woman back to 

 her people in Guaymas ; but she refused 

 to quit Tiburon. The Seris had tattooed 

 her face ; she was one of them. 



PENINSULAR CALIFORNIA 



The long, boot-shaped peninsula that 

 swings down off the left-hand corner of 

 the United States belongs to Mexico and 

 is known on Mexican maps as "Baja," or 

 Lower California. Early Spanish maps 

 of America showed California as an is- 

 land, due, no doubt, to limited explora- 

 tions of this peninsula. 



Scantly known as it is to the average 

 American, this 8oo-mile-long strip of 

 rocks, peaks, brush-grown mesas, and 

 rare, fertile little vallevs is a favorite 



