The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))McGee, W J
History
The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))
McGee, W J
Seri Indians; Seri language; Yuman languages
[223] San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 1898, p. 3. The details of
the episode, including the correspondence of Consular Agent Crocker,
were printed in the newspapers of San Diego (the place of residence of
Porter and Johnson), as well as in those of San Francisco and other
cities; and there was considerable correspondence concerning the matter
with the State Department at Washington. Some reports recount that the
bodies of Porter and Johnson were rent to fragments and devoured, but
these details naturally lack confirmation. El Mudo’s portrait appears
in plate XIX.
[224] The quotations are from the account of T. H. Silsbee, of San
Diego, prepared on his return from a visit to Costa Rica.
Both before and after the Porter-Johnson episode schemes were devised
by various parties, chiefly Californians, for obtaining concessions
covering Tiburon and its resources, most of these schemes involving
plans for the extermination of the Seri; and press accounts indicate
that a concession covering the islands of the gulf above the latitude
of 29° (i. e., including about half of Isla Tiburon) was granted
to an American company of much distinction. It would appear from
numerous news items that representatives of the company sought to land
on Tiburon, where they were first cajoled with offerings of food,
afterward found to be poisonous, and later driven off by an enlarged
force of naked archers. A recent publication bearing some official
sanction announces that “Mr W. J. Lyons, of Hermosillo, Sonora, has
secured a concession for the exploration of the island and in November
of this year will fit out an expedition for that purpose.”[225] The
various movements are significant as indices of current opinion and
official policy with respect to the tribe.
[225] El Estado de Sonora, Mexico. Sus Industrias, Comerciales, Mineras
y Manufacturas. Obra Publicada bajo los Auspicios del Gobierno del
Estado. Obra Ilustrada, Octubre de 1897. By J. R. Southworth, Nogales;
p. 73.
* * * * *
On the whole, the later episodes are natural sequels of the eventful
and striking earlier history of the Seri; and they can only be
interpreted as pointing to early extinction of one of the most strongly
marked and distinctive of aboriginal tribes.
TRIBAL FEATURES
DEFINITION AND NOMENCLATURE
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