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
A typical specimen of intermediate size, used commonly as an ahst, but
susceptible of employment as a hupf, is illustrated (natural size) in
plates XXXV and XXXVI.[296] It is a hard, tough, hornblende-granite or
greenstone, with a few structure-lines brought out by weathering and
wave-wearing. Its weight is 4 pounds 10 ounces (2.10 kilograms); its
form and surface are entirely natural, save for slight battering shown
on the two principal faces and still less conspicuous bruises along one
edge (as imperfectly shown toward the left of plate XXXV). The specimen
was found in a jacal (illustrated in plate VI) on Rada Ballena, within
a few hours after abandonment, in the position in which it was hastily
left by the last users; it was smeared with blood and fat (which still
remain, as is shown in plate XXXV) and bits of flesh, and bore bloody
finger prints of two sizes—those of a man and those of a woman or large
child; beside it lay the hupf depicted in plate XLII. In its last use
the unwieldly cobble served as an ahst, but the markings on the edge
record use also as a hand implement.
[296] This, like the other illustrations of the series (except plate
LVI, which is a lithograph, partly process and partly handwork), are
photo-mechanical reproductions made directly from the objects; all are
natural size unless otherwise specified.
A functionally similar implement is illustrated in plate XXXVII (on
reduced scale; maximum length 8¼ inches=21.0 cm.). It is of tough
but slightly vesicular and pulverulent volcanic tuff, pinkish-buff
in color, and weighs 4 pounds 1 ounce (1.84 kilograms). The form and
surface are almost wholly natural, save for slight battering about
the larger end and severer battering, with the dislodgment of a
flake, about the thinner end; yet the faces are smeared with blood
and grease and flecked with turtle debris, and bear a few marks of
hupf blows, as is shown in the reproduction. This specimen was found
at a temporary camp of a small party on Punta Miguel, where it had
been used in breaking up a turtle—the camp having been abandoned so
precipitately that a considerable part of the quarry, with this hupf,
the ahst illustrated in plate LIV, the turtle-harpoon shown in figure
20, the half-made fire, and the fire-sticks used in kindling it, were
left behind. The specimen is a good example of the cobbles carried into
portions of the territory lacking the material (the camp at which it
was found was on the great sandspit forming the eastern barrier of Boca
Infierno, several miles from the nearest pebbly shore); it is of less
specific gravity than the average rocks of the region, and looks still
lighter by reason of its color and texture. Similar cobbles abound
along the eastern coast of Tiburon, being derived from the immense
volcanic masses of Sierra Kunkaak.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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