12 
FOREST AND STREAM 
American Cannibals 
The Fierce Seri Indian Tribe of Sonora—Mexico’s Eternal Foes 
By Charles Frederick Holder 
NY one who has followed the 
history of Mexico for the past 
few years must at least give 
credit to Diaz for good gener¬ 
alship, as this last revolution 
of the insurrectos is but one of 
many which have harassed the 
government and gnawed the 
frazzled edge of Mexican peace. For years the 
Yaqui Indians were a thorn in the flesh of the 
body politic. They were defeated after long 
years of guerilla warfare, and have always ter¬ 
rorized the loyal Mexicans with revolts and 
wars or threats of wars. So far as their at¬ 
tacks were concerned, they were the Apaches of 
Mexico, though in reality a fine type of natives. 
But the enemies who have really terrified Mex¬ 
ico, especially Sonora, are the Seri Indians of 
Tiburon, off the coast of Sonora. 
That these natives have been cannibals within 
twenty years there can be no doubt, and that 
for a century they have been at war with Mex¬ 
ico is well known, the story of their excesses read¬ 
ing more like a tale of the mediaeval ages than 
of 1900. 
The Seris claimed the desert island of Tiburon 
ages ago, and for years have atacked and killed, 
when possible, all aliens in their vicinity, being 
without any question one of the most savage 
and debased of all native races with habits and 
customs which place them, or should place them, 
on the lowest round of the human ladder. 
Tiburon island, their headquarters, lies in lati¬ 
tude 29 deg. near the shore, in the Gulf of Cali¬ 
fornia. It is almost thirty miles long and from 
twelve to twenty wide with an added 1,500 
square miles of adjacent desert on the main¬ 
land, across shark infested El Inferillo. 
It is a hilly barren desert without the slight¬ 
est encouragement to hold out to a normal hu¬ 
man being, yet the savages have lived here from 
time immemorial, have flourished under seem¬ 
ingly impossible conditions, having a fondness 
for their home, which amounts to an absorbing 
vital passion, and a tribal rule regarding mar 
riage with alien races that has preserved the 
type, strong and insistent. 
For years until to-day they have been grad¬ 
ually killed off and shot down without warn¬ 
ing by the Mexican troops and this has decim¬ 
ated their numbers to a pitiful number, yet they 
are still Seris. full blooded, savage, ugly, treach¬ 
erous, everything that is wrong from the edu¬ 
cational standpoint, and apparently ready to dine 
on human flesh, whenever the opportunity offers 
for its accomplishment in safety. 
My reason for this opinion is based on a 
singular experience I had. 
For twenty years I had heard of the Seris. 
Occasionally news would drift into California 
that someone had gone down to Tiburon and 
had never been seen again, then the Mexican 
troops would go over to the island and have a 
killing; but the Seris always survived as a tribe, 
and always returned again to their Apache-like 
habit, so well known in old Sonora, of killing 
and robbing everybody on principle. Several 
times I was almost on the verge of going to the 
Seri country to-see to what extent the conditions 
had been exaggerated. 
In 1893, I received an invitation to join in 
equipping a party which proposed to start from 
Yuma, and only pressing business prevented my 
going, possibly a fortunate circumstance, as I 
might have been added to some nocturnal menu 
of these interesting people. I was at the time 
desirous of obtaining accurate data about the 
entire country from the delta to Tiburon, and I 
entered into an arrangement with Lieutenant 
Robinson of Yuma, for a series of papers on the 
country with photographs, undertaking in re¬ 
turn to defray a share of the expenses of the 
expedition and to join it if possible. It finally 
started, and in due time I received the first re¬ 
port relating to the lore at the delta and the 
old -post of Santa Isabel, which I published. The 
next contribution was to be on the Seris. I had 
warned Robinson that it was, in my estimation 
absolutely necessary to go well armed, and in 
force, and to take no chances. I suggested that 
a guard of Mexican troops be asked to accom¬ 
pany him, joining him at Hermosillo or Guay- 
mas, quoting to him the different disappearances, 
and\my private opinionthat the Seris should be 
watched every moment and that no chances should 
be taken, which meant, in plain English, ito shoot 
at the slightest indication of trouble, and discuss 
the question later. In brief, I believed it was a 
dangerous undertaking, one worth while, yet to 
be followed out with intelligent precaution. 
Lieutenant Robinson assured me that his party 
would be fully armed, and that some of the 
party would be constantly on the alert, so I felt 
I was not leading men into a danger without 
their fully understanding it; indeed the propo¬ 
sition of the expedition came from Robinson, 
who knew that I had contemplated visiting the 
island some time. 
Time passed and I heard nothing in reply to 
my repeated letters and I began to think I had 
been treated rather cavalierly, when after days 
of waiting, I received a letter from one of the 
party who stated that “I would have to excuse 
Robinson for not sending 'the report as the Seris 
had made way with him in their usual fashion.” 
This meant that they had eaten him. 
This certainly exonerated Lieutenant Robin¬ 
son, and I at on'ce took the matter up with vari¬ 
ous authorities in Sonora and Mexico, as did 
others in Arizona, the people of the territories 
being enraged. Several attempts were made to 
raiise a force to go down and wipe out the en¬ 
tire tribe, but this would have resulted in actual 
complications and the Mexican government fin¬ 
ally acted, killed all the Seris it could find and 
returned. 
Lieutenant Robinson did not go with the force, 
I supposed he would, there were but four in 
the party. He wrote me in his first report that 
the sloop, the “Dart” had been badly injured by 
a tidal wave in the delta. 
The story of the tragedy, which I received at 
the time in answer to my letters to Lieutenant 
Robinson, was, thalt some of their ammunition 
was lost at the mouth of the. Rio Colorado, that 
the number at Tiburon was not well equipped and 
short of water. According to my informant, 
Robinson and another of the party went into the 
interior and never returned, the third man who 
remained by the boat on the beach went in 
search of them but was driven back by the Seris. 
He then went aboard and with his companion 
went ashore but were driven off by an over¬ 
whelming force, so they sailed for Guaytoas for 
aid. The discovery of the bones of the men in 
a peculiar connection justified the assumption 
that they had been devoured. Various other sto¬ 
ries were published at the time, one that the par¬ 
ty loaned a rifle to the Seris who killed Robin¬ 
son with it. This seemed incredible when it is 
known that Robinson understood the situation, 
knew that he could take no chances and had 
been warned to be constantly on hand. That 
this ex-officer or any of the party should delib¬ 
erately loan a Seri his gun seems beyond com¬ 
prehension. Most of the information came from 
the natives through interpreters, and was, of 
course unreliable, but the facts remain that the 
two men disappeared as others had before, and 
it was the consensus of opinion in Sonora that 
they met the fate suggested. 
The Seris would consider the killing of a 
white man as a sort of rare sport to be indulged 
in for the pleasure of the thing. Murder has 
no signifiance in the Seri language. Pity or 
sentiment akin to it is absolutely unknown. With 
the same absolute lack of feeling the reader of 
this paper has in killing a mosquito that annoys 
him, the Seri has in killing an intruder on his 
land or the stranger who has something he 
wishes. 
In April 1909, I spent some time in Sonora, 
and was told by a Mexican who knew the inside 
facts that there was no question but that the 
Seris ate Robinson and that there were scores of 
things which they were known to eat far more 
repulsiye than human flesh. The Seris of course 
gave many reports regarding the case, they ac¬ 
knowledged having killed the men, but denied 
the cannibalism. Of course, their testimony on 
any subject was, and is worthless. 
I have an acquaintance in Sonora, one of the 
most influential, wealthiest and best known men 
in the State who has made the experiment of 
taking a Seri girl of ten or twelve and bringing 
her up under Christian influences. So far the 
experiment is successful and I saw and talked 
with the girl who was an interesting Indian. 
Her hair was remarkable for its brush-like 
thickness. I could think of nothing but the bris¬ 
tles of a Peccary I had handled in the same 
way in the Yaqui delta a few days before. It 
was black and seemingly as coarse as horse hair 
and it did not require much imagination to see 
hair of this kind rising like the hair of a dog 
or peccary on the heads of Seri warriors in 
the blood lust in which they are said to indulge. 
Every tooth in the Seri girl’s mouth was dou- 
