Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-05

per man named Rob-
inson The latter and one of his three COM
panions We're murdered The deed had no
other motive than pure fiendishness. Small
as is the tribe Of the Seris-they number
| only about 80 souls-these savages are the
most bloodthirsty in North America For
long time they have terrorized Sonora
| but the Mexican government seems power
less to control them.
The tribe was visited recently by an eX-
petition from the bureau of ethnology.
which has just returned to Washington
with some very interesting information.
Prof w. j. MCGEE. who led the party, SAID
yesterday:
1T is understood that the Serbs are can
nibals-at all events, that they eat every
white man they can Stay. They are cruel
and treacherous beyond description. 10
ward the white man their attitude IS eA-
actly the same as that of the white man
toward a rattlesnake-they kill him as a
matter of course unless restrained by fear
Never do they fight in open warfare put
always lie in ambush. They are coopel-
colored Ishmaelites. 1t is their custom 10
murder everybody white, red or Mexican Il
employ the terms commonly used IN Una
country who ventures to enter the terri
tory they call their own.
Can Outrun Jack Rabbits.
'In MANY respects the Serbs are the most
interesting tribe of sayages in North Amer
lea They are decidedly more primitive In
their ways than other Indians, having
scarcely any arts worth mentioning. III
fact they have rot yet advanced as Ia as
the stone age. The only stone implement
in common use, among them Is ruoe
hammer of that ntaterial, which they EN-,
plcy for beating clay to make fragile and
peculiar kind Of pottery. When one OF
H. COL n
quite beans she has, no utensil for the pur-
pose. She looks about until she finds
rock with an Upper surface conveniently
hollow. and on this she places the beans
pounding them With an ordinary stone
1.-The Serbs live on the Island of Tiburon.
in the Cult of California. They also claim
5,CGO square miles of the mainland in
Sonora. Their dwellings, are the rudest
serves for one wall of the habitation stones
are piled up sol has to make small in
closure. and the shell of a single great
turtle does for a roof. The house is al
ways open on one side and is not intended
as a shelter from! storms, but chiefly to
keep off the sim. The men and women
made of pelican skin; the children are
naked. Not far from Tiburor, which is
about thirty miles long by fifteen miles
wide. there Is smaller island where peli-
cans rOOSt in vast numbers. The SeriS go
at night and with sticks knock over as
many of the birds as they require.
physically speaking, the Serbs are most
remarkable. They are OF great stature
the men averaging nearly six feet in
height, with splendid chests. But the most
noticeable point about them is their legs,
which are very slender and sinewy, re-
Sembling the legs of the deer Since the
first coming of the SpaniardS they have
been known to other tribes as the runners
1t is said that they can run from $50 to
| 200 miles a day, not pausing for rest Now,
l suppose you are aware that the jack rab-
| bit is considered a very fleet animal Yet
| these Indians are accustomed to catch
jack rabbits by outrunning them.
Similar to the Coyote Method.
For this purpose three men or boys go
| together. If the rabbit ran straight away
| from it's pursrer. it could not be taken;
| but it's instinct is to make it's flight by Zig
| zags. The hunters arrange themselves at
short distances apart. AS quickly as one
! Of them starts rabbit, second Indian
runs as fast as he can along a line parallel
| with the course taken by the animal. Pres
| emily the rabbit sees the second Indian
and dashes eff at tangent. BY this time
| the third hunter has come up and gives the
| quarry another turn. After the third or
| fourth zigzag the rabbit Is surrounded,
and the hunters quickly close in upon him
and grab him.
| 1T is an odd fact that this method of
! catching jack-rabbits is precisely the same
as that adopted by coyotes, which work
| similarly by threes. By this strategy these
! wild dogs capture the rabbits, though the
| latter are more fleet by far. believe that
| no other human beings approach the Sc
ris in celebrity of movement. A favorite
| sport of the boys is lassoing dogs. Mon
| grel ours are the only animals domesticated
| by these wild people. For amusement 8
| sake the boys take their dogs to clear
| place and drive them in all directions.
| Then they capture the frightened animals
| by running and throwing lassos, which are
| made out of human hair. They have no
81 sx, 1yi,1tr hn
! Zone day saw party of boys returning
| with their dogs after bout at this sport.
| They passed near bush IN which We're
| three or four blackbirds. On spying the
| birds, they dashed toward the bush and
| tried to catch them with their hands. They
| did not succeed, though one of the birds
| only escaped with the loss Of several
| feathers. Some women of the tribe We're
| watching, and they actually jeered at the
| boys for their failure. The boys were so
mortified that they ibid not go into the
| camp but went off and sat by themselves
in the shade of the greasewood BUSH NOW.
what white man or boy would think Of
| trying to catch bIackbirds In such way!
What 1 saw made 1t evident that nom
success in an attempt Of the kind was
the exception and not the the, rule s:, wa. was
informed also that the Serls often take
| birds in this fashion.
Question of an Escort.
| "My visit to therSeris was rather acct
| dental than otherwise. The object Ct our
expedition was to hook up the Papagoes
who occupy a region of considerable ex-
tent in southwest Arizona and Sonora
They are agricultural and pastoral people
but are very brave and do their fighting
in the open. Their territory approaches
that of the Serbs. II say approaches be-
cause the boundary between the two tribes
| Is not easily determined with exactness
and in that arid country an uninhabitable
zone Is apt to separate two neighborlng
| peoples. This zone may or may not be
common property, to be roamed over by
| both tribes.
grinding myself about 300 miles to the
| southwark of the United States boundary
! and in the neighborhood Of the Serbs, de-
| cided to visit them. The Mexican author
| tiles did not wish me to make the venture
considering it too risky. They suggested
| that might secure the escort of troop
| of soldiers, but objected to this plan or
| the ground that the Indians would run
| away as quickly as the soldiers appeared
so rnat would have no chance to study
| them. 1t was then proposed that should
| take with me a dozen or fifteen soldiers in
| citizens dress, but I was officially inform
| ed that three or four Papagoes would be
| equally seryiceable. This tribute to the