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
According to Mange’s itinerary, the explorers left Santa Magdalena de
Buquibava, on the banks of Rio San Ignacio or Santa Magdalena, February
9, traveling northwestward down the valley of that river (for the most
part) 12 leagues to San Miguel del Bosna; the original party having
been enlarged at Santa Magdalena by the addition of Nicolas Castrijo
and Antonio Mezquita, with two Indians for guides. On February 10
they traveled from Bosna 5 leagues southward (evidently in the valley
of Rio San Ignacio, which is here 5 to 25 miles in width), to sleep
at the watering place of Oacue, or San Bartolome. The next day they
journeyed westward along the wash (of San Ignacio), stopping, as was
their custom, to baptize the sick and others, and after covering 10
leagues camped at a tanque. On February 12 they continued westward over
mesquite-covered plains for 4 leagues, and then turned northwestward
for 3 leagues along the San Ignacio to Caborca, where they spent the
remainder of the day in evangelical work. Next morning, after saying
mass, they again proceeded westward “por la vega del rio abajo” (down
the bank of the river); at 2 leagues distance they arrived at the place
at which the river “sinks”, but continued westward along the sand-wash
5 leagues farther, passing the night at a tanque of turbid water. On
February 14 they again celebrated mass, and then proceeded westward
over the plains (“prosiguiendo nosotros al Poniente por llanos”);
at 4 leagues they reached a rancheria which was dubbed San Valentin
(still persisting as a Papago temporale; the “Bisanig” of various
maps), watered from a well in the river bed; proceeding westward
(“prosiguiendo al Poniente”) 6 leagues farther, they ascended a sierra
trending from south to north (“trasmontada una sierra que sita de Sur á
Norte”) of which they named the principal peak Nazareno, in a dry and
sterile barranca in which they afterward slept; from this sierra they
saw “the Gulf of California, and, on the farther coast, four mountains
of that territory, which we named Los Cuatro Stos. Evangelistas, and
toward the northwest an islet with three cerritos named Las Tres
Marias, and in the southwest the Isla de Seris, to which they retreat
when pursued by soldiers for their robberies, which we call San Agustin
and others Tiburon.”[45] The record continues:
[45] Translated somewhat freely from Resumen de Noticias, in Documentos
para la Historia de Mexico, cuarta série, tomo I, 1856, pp. 235-236.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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