FOREST AND STREAM 
13 
ble, which, however, had no significance. She 
was shy and modest and appeared very much 
like an ordinary white girl would who was hav¬ 
ing her two rows of double teeth examined by 
several people. 
She had been educated to believe Americans 
monsters, not even human beings, but livid 
bloodless aliens to be killed if the occasion ap¬ 
peared. 
The little Seri was under the circumstances a 
curiosity, but what interested me the most con¬ 
cerning her, was a statement she made regard¬ 
ing her people to the effect that they ate human 
flesh when they could get it, and she seemed 
to think there was nothing remarkable in (the 
custom. So on this evidence, and the singular 
and absolute disappearance of many unfortun¬ 
ates, with their bones and the well known fact 
that the eating habits of the Seris are fouler 
than those of a dog, compared only to that of 
swine, leads me to believe that there have been 
cannibals along the Mexican line in times past, 
and that the reason there are none there now, lies 
in the fact that their numbers are so decimated. 
But if one wishes to see one of the most prim¬ 
itive savage races on the globe, if not the low¬ 
est type, take the train from Nogales to Her- 
mosillo in Sonora, then drive to the coast and 
with a party ride over the Encinas desert to Ti- 
buron, or if one wishes to know how it seems to 
be devoured go to Tiburon, alone and unarmed, 
and wander about among its sun-baked canons. 
This is not an ethnological thesis but merely 
the opinion of a layman who believes that such 
an exploitation of Seriland will not be disap¬ 
pointing. 
The Seris are from this and other reasons 
among the most interesting people in any land. 
They are passing rapidly and are no longer the 
slightest menace, as no one goes to Tiburon and 
the Seri do not wander away from the scenes of 
desolation they seem to love; again there are too 
many Papagos, Mexicans and Amerians who 
would kill them on sight just as anyone would 
kill a snake and all Mexico is well guarded, 
hence the time of the Seri is short. The next 
time anyone is missed the troopers of Mexico 
will go to Tiburon on a hunt and the end will 
come. 
The extraordinary vitality of the Seris is well 
illustrated by the fact that since the time of 
Cortez and the fall of Montezuma the Span¬ 
iards, and after them the Mexicans, have wag¬ 
ed what is practically a war of extermination 
against them. 
There were then possibly two thousand Seris; 
to-day they number approximately two hundred 
and seventy, about one-half of .which are war¬ 
riors; and it can be said that while overwhelmed 
they have not lost an iota of the savage nature 
which has made them stand out with startling 
distinctness among American Indians. 
Like the Yaquis they have never surrendered 
to Spanish or Mexican. The rule has been to 
kill every intruder, anyone who approaches the 
island by land or sea, and the greatest honor 
that could come to a young Seri is the oppor¬ 
tunity od killing an Indian of another tribe, or 
an American. In Mexico at large where prac¬ 
tically the people are still Indians, marriage is 
often not considered necessary and a group of 
children will display every possible tint or shade 
and grades between Indian, Caucasian and Span¬ 
The Author At His Favorite Sport. 
iard (Mexican). With the Seri the reverse holds. 
The most lasting disgrace for a community is 
to have"a man or woman marry or consort with 
an alien, hence the type is pure Seri, a remark¬ 
able one, and the men are strong, large, active, 
ideal primitive men, animals of the lowest type, 
when judged by their habits and life. 
How primitive the Seris are is shown in their 
absolute savage nature or ferociousness. It is 
said the Papagos look upon them as one would 
a mad dog; would shoot them on sight. A good 
Papago was asked why he was so anxious to ac¬ 
company a party to Seri land. His answer was 
that the Seri had killed all his relatives, and he 
hoped while the party was examining the island 
to have a chance to kill off a few of his enemies. 
In their habits the Seri are like animals. They 
live on shell fish, turtles, fish, bird and cacti 
of various kinds, and while some things are 
cooked, they prefer their food raw, tearing at 
an animal with teeth and fingers, after the fash¬ 
ion of a coyote, and if it were permissible in 
respectable print to even mention some of the 
food, and the feasts they make no one would 
doubt for a moment that they would draw the 
line at cannibalism. 
They have not even the economic side of lay¬ 
ing up stores of food possessed by the desert 
rats they kill, bu't wander about, not even estab¬ 
lishing their rude homes in the vicinity of wat¬ 
er, the woman bringing it from long distances. 
In the summer they go to the mainland, fatten 
on the fruit of the cactus, the tuna, saguaro, 
Pitayah, saguesa or nopal, camping in 
hollows in the sand beneath the giant cactus 
and living in the forest as long as the fruit 
lasts, gorging themselves as swine do upon 
fallen nuts. They make a flour out of the 
