The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-18
11YE LIKE rR1MEYA1 1rAN.


 seri Indians -They Have No Agriculture,
 NOHOusehOld Utensils, No Amusements-
 Can outrun Jack Rabbits and Catch Birds
 With Their Hands-Are Bloodthirsty and
 Cruel.
 [From the Washington Evening Star.l
 The killing of two Americans by the Seri Indians of Sonora last spring has given occasion for recent diplomatic correspondence between the United States and Mexico. It will be remem- bered that the victims belonged to an exploring expedition headed by a newspaper man named Robinson. The latter and one of his three companions were murdered. The deed had no oth- CT motive than pure flendishness Small as is the tribe of the Serls~ they num- ber only 250 souls-they are the most bloodthirsty in North America. For a long time they have terrorized Sonora, but the Mexican government seems powerless to control them.
 The tribe was visited recently by an expedition from the bureau of Ethnol- logy, which has just returned to Wash ington with some very interesting in- formation. Professor w. J. McGee, who led the party, said yesterdays
 "It is understood that the Seris are cannibals-at all events, that they eat every white man that they can slay. They are cruel and treacherous be- yond description. Toward the white man their attitude Is exactly the same as that of white man toward a rat tlesnake--they kill him as a matter of course, unless restrained by fear. New CT do they fight in open warfare, but always lie in ambush. They are cop per colored Ishmaelites. It is their custom to murder everybody, white, red, or Mexican q employ the terms commonly used in that country), who ventures to enter the territory they call their own.
 ''In many respects the Seris are the most interesting tribe of savages in North America. They are decidedly more primitive in their ways than oth- CT Indians, having scarcely any arts worth mentioning. In fact, they have not yet advanced as far as the stone age. The only stone implement in com mon use among them is rude hammer of that material. which they employ for beating clay to make a fragile and peculiar kind Of pottery. When one of the squaws wishes to make a meal of mesquite beans she has no utensil for the purpose 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.
 "The Seris live on the Island of Tib- uron, in the Gulf or California. They also claim 5000 square miles of the mainland in Sonora. Their dwellings are the rudest imaginable. A chance rock commonly serves for one wall of the hajbitation; stones are piled up so as to make a small enclosure, and the shell of a single great turtle does for a roof The house is always open on one side and is not intended as shel- ter from storms, but chiefly to keep off the sun. The men and women wear single garment, like petticoat made of pelican skin; the children are naked. Not far from Tiburon, which is about thirty miles long by fifteen miles wide, there is a 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 Seris 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 slen- der and sinewy, resembling the legs of a fho Spaniards they have been known to other tribes as the runners. It is said that they can run from 150 to 200 miles a day, not pausing for rest. Now, I suppose you are aware that the jack rabbit Is considered very fleet animal. Yet these Indians are accustomed to catch jack rabbits by running.
 "For this purpose three men or boys go together. If the rabbit ran straight away from its pursuer 1t could not be taken; but it's instinct is to make its flight by zigzags. The hunters arrange themselves at short distances apart As quickly as one of them starts a rabbit a second Indian runs as fast as he can along a line parallel with the course taken by the animal. Presently the rabbit sees the second Indian and dashes off at a 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 jack rabbits is precisely the same as that adopted by coyotes, which work similarly by threes. By this these wild dogs capture the rabbits, though the latter are more fleet by far. I believe that no other human beings approach the Seris in celerity of A favorite sport of the boys is lassoing dogs. Mongrel CUTS are the only animals domesticated by these wild people, For amusement's sake the boys take their dogs to a 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 difficulty in overriding the dogs.
 "One day saw a party of boys re- turning with their dogs after bout at this sport, They passed near bush in which were three or four blackbirds. ~n cnvinq the birds thev fla aehed iowa rd