



Produced by PM for Bureau of American Ethnology, Wayne
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[Transcriber's Note:

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spacing issues in tables caused by unicode characters.

W J McGee apparently preferrred his initials without periods. The
initials W J are retained as scanned.

The letter "q" does not have a superscript character in unicode.
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Pages 129-end are asterisked in the original text because they overlap
the pagination of the following article.]




THE SERI INDIANS

BY

W J McGEE

Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-96, Government Printing
Office, Washington, 1898, pages 1—344*




CONTENTS


                                                                    Page
  Introduction                                                         9
    Salient features                                                   9
    Recent explorations and surveys                                   12
    Acknowledgments                                                   20
  Habitat                                                             22
    Location and area                                                 22
    Physical characteristics                                          22
    Flora                                                             31
    Fauna                                                             36
    Local features                                                    39
  Summary history                                                     51
  Tribal features                                                    123
    Definition and nomenclature                                      123
    External relations                                               130
    Population                                                       134
  Somatic characters                                                 136
  Demotic characters                                                 164
    Symbolism and decoration                                         164
      Face-painting                                                  164
      Decoration in general                                          169
      The significance of decoration                                 176
    Industries and industrial products                               180
      Food and food-getting                                          180
      Navigation                                                     215
      Habitations                                                    221
      Appareling                                                     224
      Tools and their uses                                           232
      Warfare                                                        254
    Nascent industrial development                                   265
    Social organization                                              269
      Clans and totems                                               269
      Chiefship                                                      275
      Adoption                                                       277
      Marriage                                                       279
      Mortuary customs                                               287
    Serial place of Seri socialry                                    293
    Language                                                         296
  Comparative lexicology
  Index
  Footnotes




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                    Page
   Plate I. Seriland                                                   9
        II. Pascual Encinas, conqueror of the Seri                    13
      III_a_. Seri frontier                                           40
      III_b_. Sierra Seri, from Encinas desert                        40
       IV_a_. Sierra Seri, from Tiburon island                        42
       IV_b_. Punta Ygnacio, Tiburon bay                              42
        V_a_. Western shore of Tiburon bay                            44
        V_b_. Eastern shore of Tiburon bay                            44
       VI_a_. Recently occupied rancheria, Tiburon island             80
       VI_b_. Typical house interior, Tiburon island                  80
      VII_a_. House framework, Tiburon island                        110
      VII_b_. House covering, Tiburon island                         110
      VIII. Sponge used for house covering, Tiburon island           112
       IX_a_. House skeleton, Tiburon island                         114
       IX_b_. Interior house structure, Tiburon island               114
         X. Typical Seri house on the frontier                       117
        XI. Occupied rancheria on the frontier                       119
       XII. Group of Seri Indians on trading excursion               121
      XIII. Group of Seri Indians on the frontier                    137
       XIV. Seri family group                                        139
        XV. Seri mother and child                                    142
       XVI. Group of Seri boys                                       144
      XVII. Mashém, Seri interpreter                                 146
     XVIII. “Juana Maria”, Seri elderwoman                           150
       XIX. Typical Seri warrior                                     154
        XX. Typical Seri matron                                      156
       XXI. Seri runner                                              158
      XXII. Seri matron                                              160
     XXIII. Youthful Seri warrior                                    162
      XXIV. Seri belle                                               164
       XXV. Seri maiden                                              166
      XXVI. Characteristic face-painting                             168
     XXVII. Face-painting paraphernalia                              170
    XXVIII. Seri archer at rest                                      200
      XXIX. Seri archer at attention                                 202
       XXX. Seri bow, arrow, and quiver                              204
      XXXI. Seri balsa in the National Museum                        217
     XXXII. Painted olla, with olla ring (Museum number 155373)      222
    XXXIII. Plain olla (Museum number 155373)                        226
     XXXIV. Domestic anvil, side (Museum number 178858)              234
      XXXV. Domestic anvil, top (Museum number 178858)               234
     XXXVI. Domestic anvil, bottom (Museum number 178858)            234
    XXXVII. Domestic anvil (reduced), top and side (Museum number
              178838)                                                237
   XXXVIII. Metate (reduced), top and edge (Museum number 178839)    237
     XXXIX. Long-used metate (reduced), top (Museum number 178840)   238
        XL. Long-used metate (reduced), bottom (Museum number
              178840)                                                238
       XLI. Natural