The Seri Indians |
Common terms and phrases
1895 expedition aboriginal according ahst alien AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY SEVENTEENTH animal ANNUAL REPORT PL apparently arrow Arroyo artifacts Bacuache Bahia balsa Bartlett bones BUREAU OF AMERICAN Caborca California Caucasian character characteristic clan coast Cochimi conspicuous Costa Rica customs denoting devices distinctive ETHNOLOGY ETHNOLOGY SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL evidently feet Guaymas gulf Gulf of California habit hair hand Hermosillo hupf Ibid implements inches indicate industrial Infiernillo Isla jacales Kino Kolusio Kunkaak Kutchan Laymon LEXICOLOGY linguistic mainland Mashém material matrons MCGEE mesquite Mexican Mexico miles NATURAL PEBBLE observed Opata Padre Papago party pelican Pinart poison primitive probably province Punta rancheria rancho Rancho San Francisco records Rio Sonora Señor Encinas Seri Indians Serian Seriland SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT shells shore Sierra Seri signifies Sonora specimen stone Tepocas Tiburon island Tinaja tion tomo tribal tribe tribesmen turtle vaqueros vocables vocabulary warriors Yuman
Popular passages
Page 51 - They have poison from a certain tree the size of the apple. For effect no more is necessary than to pluck the fruit and moisten the arrow with it, or, if there be no fruit, to break a twig and with the milk do the like. The tree is abundant and so deadly that, if the leaves be bruised and steeped in some neighboring water, the deer and other animals drinking it soon burst.
Page 53 - Maldonado, who was captain of those who went in search of the ships, did not find them, but he brought back with him an Indian so large and tall that the best man in the army reached only to his chest.
Page 100 - Indian idioin in Sonora. It is said that on one occasion some of these Indians passed by a shop in Guaymas, where some Welsh sailors were talking, and on hearing the Welsh language spoken, stopped, listened, and appeared much interested, declaring that those white men were their brothers, for they had a tongue like their own. They are very filthy in their habits, and are said to be worshipers of the moon.
Page 284 - ... matrons; and later (if the proposal is entertained) it is deliberated and discussed at length by the matrons of the two clans involved, who commonly hold repeated councils for the purpose. At an undetermined stage and to an undetermined degree the maiden herself is consulted; certainly she holds the power of veto, ostensible if not actual. Pending the deliberations the maiden receives special consideration and enjoys various dignities; if circumstances favor, her kinswomen...
Page 284 - ... dignify her clan and honor her 'spouse in the most effective way known to primitive life; and at the same time she enjoys the immeasurable moral stimulus of realizing that she is the arbiter of the fate of a man who becomes warrior or outcast at her bidding, and through him of the future of two clans — ie, she is raised to a responsibility in both personal and tribal affairs which, albeit temporary, is hardly lower than that of the warrior-chief. In tribal theory the moral test measures the...
Page 285 - ... period are those of receiving the most intimate attentions from the clanfellows of the groom ; and these are noteworthy as suggestions of a vestigial polyandry or adelphogamy. At the close of the year the probation ends in a feast provided by the probationer, who thereupon enters the bride's jacal as a perpetual guest of unlimited personal privileges (subject to tribal custom); while the bride passes from a half- wanton heyday into the duller routine of matronly existence.
Page 276 - ... relatively smaller) than the ; mistress, and partly because of the undignified position of outer guard into which he is forced by the tribal etiquette. Moreover, his connection with the house is veiled by the absence of authority over both children and domestic affairs, though he exercises such authority freely (within the customary limits) in the jacales of his female relatives. There is, indeed, some question as to the clear recognition of paternity ; certainly the females have no term for...
Page 154 - ... ramifying from the speaker; furthermore, they typify primitive culture in their collective thinking, which is tribe-centered (or ethnocentric), ie, they view extraneous things, especially those of animate nature, with reference to the tribe, like all those lowly folk who denote themselves by the most dignified terms in their vocabulary and designate aliens by opprobrious epithets; but the Seri outpass most, if not all, other tribes in dignifying themselves and derogating contemporary aliens....
Page 284 - ... ie, he must display and exercise skill in turtle-fishing, strength in the chase, subtlety in warfare, and all other physical qualities of competent manhood. This relation, with the attendant obligations, holds for a year, ie, a round of the seasons. During the same period the groom shares the jacal and sleeping robe provided for the prospective matron by her kinswomen, not as privileged spouse, but merely as a protecting companion; and throughout this probationary term he is compelled to maintain...
Page 279 - ... of the bulls by which they are led, so the Seri clans appear to be graded by the prowess of their masculine leaders, combined with the sortilegic success of the leaders' consorts ; while, just as the leadership of the cattle shifts from band to band as the years go by, according to the fairly equal hazard of natural selection, so the clan dynasties of the human group rise, flourish, and decline in an endless succession shaped by the chances of birth and survival under a capricious environment,...