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
Among the 60 Seri (including 17 or 18 warriors) at Costa Rica in 1894,
three bows and four quivers of arrows were observed, besides a number
of stray arrows, chiefly in the hands of striplings. The arrows seen
numbered some 60 or 70, including perhaps 20 “poisoned” specimens;
nearly half of them were tipped with hoop-iron, as illustrated in plate
XXX, while about as many more were fitted only with the customary
foreshafts (usually sharpened and hardened by charring), and the
small remainder had evidently lost iron tips in use; there was not
a single stone-tipped arrow in the rancheria. Moreover, when the
usually incisive and confident Mashém was asked for the Seri term for
stone arrowpoint he was taken aback, and was unable to answer until
after lengthy conference with other members of the tribe—his manner
and that of his mates clearly indicating ignorance of such a term
rather than the desire to conceal information so frequently manifested
in connection with esoteric matters; and the term finally obtained
(_ahst-ahk_, connoting stone and arrow) is the same as that used to
denote the arrowpoint of hoop-iron. The most reasonable inference
from the various facts is that whatsoever might have been the customs
of their ancestors, the modern Seri are not accustomed to stone
arrow-making.
The 1895 expedition was slightly more successful in the search for
Seri arrows. About midway between the abandoned Rancho Libertad and
Barranca Salina, an ancient Seri site was found to yield hundreds of
typical potsherds, half a dozen shells such as those used for utensils,
the fragments of a hupf evidently shattered by use as a fire-stone,
and the small rudely chipped arrowpoint shown in figure 37_a_; and
among the numerous relics found on a knoll overlooking Pozo Escalante
(including two jacal frames, two or three graves, an ahst, several
shells and discarded hupfs, a broken fictile figurine, etc.), was
the still ruder arrowpoint represented in figure 37_b_ (both figures
are natural size). The specimens are nearly identical in material—a
jet-black slaty rock with a few lighter flecks interspersed, weathering
gray on long exposure (as is shown by the partly natural surface of
the larger point); similar rock abounds in several easterly spurs of
Sierra Seri. The smaller specimen was evidently finished and used; its
features indicate fairly skilful chipping, though its general form is
crude—in addition to the asymmetric shouldering, the entire point is
curved laterally in such manner as to interfere with accurate archery.
The larger specimen is still more strongly curved laterally, and the
chipping is childishly crude; while the rough surface, clumsy tang, and
unfinished air indicate that it was never used even to the extent of
shafting. It is possible that the specimens may have been imported by
aliens, but the probabilities are strong that they were manufactured
by the Seri. No other arrowpoints and no chips or spalls suggesting
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