Elsewhere the Tiburones were characterized as enemies of the Seri,[173] while the “Heris” tribe was enumerated as a branch of the “Pimas Bajas” people. Herr Mühlenpfordt’s characterization of the Seri and the Tiburon islanders as enemies would appear to be groundless, yet not wholly incomprehensible; in the first place, the earlier literature indicates that the term Seri (Seris, Ceris, Heris, etc.) was an alien designation of lax application,[174] doubtless extended occasionally or habitually to marauding nomads, regardless of affinity; again there is conclusive evidence that in many instances Seri convert-captives attached to the missions and pueblos were often regarded as tribal apostates and outlaws whose lives were forfeit; and, moreover, the region in which Herr Mühlenpfordt gained his information was and still is one of abounding tale, whose frequent exaggeration and not infrequent invention conceal and distort the simple facts. [173] Ibid., Band I, p. 210. [174] Peñafiel defines “Seris” as the “name of a tribe of Sonora, originating probably in the Opata language” (Nomenclatura Geográfica de Mexico—Etimologías de los Nombres de Lugar ... por el Dr. Antonio Peñafiel, primera parte, 1897, p. 225); while Pimentel defines two suggestively similar Opata words, “_Serarai_, paso menudo y bueno”, and “_Sërerài_, velocidad de la persona que corre” (Vocabulario Manual de la Lengua Opata, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo X, 1863, p. 306), i. e., a good and direct pace, and the speed of a person running, respectively (cf. postea. p. 125).