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
An almost equally distinctive garment is a short shirt or wammus, with
long sleeves, worn by men and women but not by children; ordinarily it
covers the thorax, missing connection with the kilt by a few inches,
and so affording ventilation and space for suckling the teeming
offspring. Unlike the kilt, it is an actual garment, fitted with
sleeves and fastened in front with hair-cord strings. Although the Seri
wammus corresponds fairly with a Yaqui garment, it seems practically
certain that it is of local aboriginal design, and that it was made
primitively of haircloth or native textiles (as illustrated in plate
XXIX) and worn rather ceremoniously; but latterly it is made of manta
and is worn habitually (at least by the women and on the frontier),
though cast aside in preparation for any special task or effort—i. e.,
it is not connected with pudency-sense, save to a slight degree in the
younger women. The form, function, and prevalence of the wammus are
illustrated by the group shown in plate XIII, in which nearly all of
the thirty-odd adults wear the garment.
These two articles constitute the ordinary wearing apparel of the Seri,
though they are commonly supplemented (especially when both are of
manta) by a pelican-skin robe, which is habitually carried to serve
as bed or mackintosh, according to the chance of journey and weather,
or as a shield in sudden warfare. No head-covering is used, save in
the ceremonial masquerade, when the heads of animals are worn as
masks,[290] or in aping Caucasian customs, especially on expeditions
for barter (as illustrated in plate XII). Loose trousers of Mexican
pattern are sometimes put on at frontier points, but are discarded in
Seriland proper, save by Mashém, who maintains prestige partly by this
borrowed badge of Caucasian superiority. Leggings and moccasins are
eschewed, naturally enough, since they would afford little protection
from the sharp spalls and savage thorns of the district, and would give
lodgment for the barbed spines inevitably gathered in rapid chase or
flight over cactus-dotted stretches; and the only foot-covering seen
(save Mashém’s boots) was a single sandal made from the rough skin
of a turtle-flipper, apparently for ceremonial rather than practical
use. Of all the party at Costa Rica in 1894 subchief Mashém was
the only one who wore Caucasian apparel with any air of comfort and
fitness; yet even he, with hat and shirt, boots and breeches, and loose
bandana about his neck in cowboy style (plate XVII), did not feel
fully dressed without the slender hair-cord necklace of his kin in its
wonted place. On the frontier improvised fig-leaves were sometimes
put on the children of less than a dozen years (as illustrated by the
standing infant shown in plate XIV, who was thus dressed hastily for
her picture); and a common garb of the smaller children at Costa Rica,
as they played about the rancheria or wandered in directions away from
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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