The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-16
A BRUSH WITH THE SERBS.
A story of the Alleged CannfbaIs of
the Gulf of California.

rive read something lately in the news
rapers about the Seri Indians down in
tbe Gulf OF California" said ART Tired
will the proprietor Of a saloon at Los
Teiones He is visiting New York, and
was talking with some western acquain-
tances in the barroom Of an uptown hotel
last evening. They picked up a party Of
American voyagers last year. it seems, at
Tiburon Island and killed and ate two Of
them. 1 run across those Indians once.
and I've been mighty willing since then to
give them a wide berth. How did il come
about? Well, it's something Of a story.
but if you've got the time to hear it, it'll
bear telling.
1T was five years ago that these Indians
came over 70 the mainland ana cut up a
good deal of mischief around the ranches
Their home is on Tiburon Island. three
hundred miles or SO south OF Yuma. and
] believe they. claim strip on the Sonora
mainland. They are Camnibals, and all
around, are the fercest and meanest In
dams that I've ever heard of.
1T was in the same year. in September
that / found myself stranded in Yuma.
with no money and mighty poor prospects
II was hotter than the tropics in the town
my landlord was getting sulky and com
planned OF slow returns from bOarders
and for lack of other means Of getting
out of the country, 1 was beginning to
think that should have to beat my way
on the freight trains to San Francisco
when l fell in with John Lomwyn He
was an Englishman who had been a sailor
and somehow had drifted to Yuma Even
there he couldn keep away from the wa
ter. and he had got hold of an old boat
that had been a tender to a river steamer
and that no one laid claim to- He had
calked her, rugged a keel set IN a mast
built a little cabin amidships. and vas
getting ready to make a voyage of discov-
cry down the river. We struck M an ac-
Quaintaniee, nelped him about his work.
and he invited me to go with him down
into the COcopah country. | had lust
then struck the promise of employment
to begin the first of November but I
agreed to go along with. him IL he would
provide me gun, find me in grub and
ammunition, and get mo back to Yuma in
80 he got me an old muzzle-loading
smooth-b bore army musket-he had for
himself a fine English-made sporting RlIo--
and one day near the end of September
we holsted our SAIL, made from a wagon
cover, and started out For supplies we
had -four, coffee. sugar baking powder.
and salt enough to last US a month, with
plenty OF ammunition, five dollars in sill
Yer, and a quart and a half of whisky
contributed as a good luck Offering by
TWO saloon Keepers with whom we had
transacted business in the past when
times were tiuSher with u.s.
WHAT could two men want more for a
months voyage? Wind and current took
US down across the Mexican border into
the COcOpah country and there we driffe,5
and wandered about as happy as YOU
please for matter Of ten or twelve DAYS
-AAAfl Ntlt utnui u I una the cool sea
breeze at the rivers mouth was delightful.
and we had picnic time running In and
out OF the coVes ana lagoCns IN the Co
cOpah country, shooting ducks among tho
reeds, and quail and rabbits on the land
We saw the volcano mountain and the
hot springs, and we found the CocOna lis
people much like our Yuma Indians,
very friendly and hCSpitable. We couldn' t
quite go their bread, made Of pounded
mesquite beans. and we could have got
along contentedly with fewer mosquitoes.
u ferNn on
fish from the river, and had barrels OF
fun IN capturing them. At night we an
chored the. boat out on the open water
and slept aboard, so the mosquitoes didn't
trouble us much except when the wind
was still
After about a fortnight of this. work
ing down the river all the time, we found
ourselves fairly out upon the California
cur and then Lomwyn proposed that we
coast down the Sonora shore and take
look at the Papago country. That
suited me and we sailed southwark, MAX
ing snort runs from headland to head
AAd sometimes landing and always
was a good deal of an explorer, AN In
Nehtlve genuis in his way, and what you
mlBnt cali a man Of resource for a trip
OF this kind. We found oysters in some
Of the coves, which we worked ONT Of
Their beds with q wooden rake that he
made, and we could dig clans from the
great luNuries to. US after the bacon
L9lgh beef, and canned goods of Yuma
We fell in with the PaDagO Indians once
or twice and traded q Ettle with them
ana one of them, a boy called Jose, who
had hVed among the whites and knew
some Americana, we took along with us
as helper and interpreter The weather
Kept fine and we worked further and fur
Their south until Jose one day, pointing
TO an inland peak said:
Papago country end there
We asked him what lay beyond
- Nothing he said, Just Sonora, that's
all. Then he pointed down the gulf and
SAG, 'Seris live there. No good. Heap bad
The country looked lone and desolaJte
enough with its half tropical Wilderness
along the low shore line and barren noun
Ialns behind, but We kept on to the south
Wlshlng to see a little more of it. As we
had no log we may have made a longer
run that day than We reckoned on. At any
rate, the PapagO boy began TO get uneasy.
TAXED good deal of the Serbs Indians.
ana wanted to turn back. I myself didn' {
much IKE the idea of venturing very near
Cese island savages. who, he said We're
eannibals that went naked except for pel-
ican skins about their loins, were a heap
Z 3, mad no houses except caves and shelly
ing rocks, and could outrun deer and ra b.
pts. Lomwyn. who was a man who would
venture anywhere, laughed at the idea of
eahser 10 US and insisted on keeping our
course down the coast the rest of the day.
e{SIe95lhg mat on the next morning we
should take the back track. We ran in
Snore that night about O'Clock on a
peach, sheltered by a high point of land
Just below It which made out into the sea,
80 mat 1t broke the force of the rollers
the south
After beach.ng the boat we climbed the
ngn point to take a look around. Far off
70 the south, hull down, we could see land
1ut IN the gulf, which Jose said was III
DuIon I'd shot a heron during the day.
dnd this, with roasted CLAIMS fresh dug
from the sand, bread and coffee, made
Uur supper. which We cooked and ate
ashore. BY that time darkness had fallen
a1q the moon was not up. The beach,
which was in the form of a semi-crcle,
Was about 400 feet long by 175 or 200 feet
ueep, and was bordered by dense woods
.au undergrowth which stretched back to
re root Of the mountains. As we sat on
thhe sand smoking our after-supper pipes,
We question was debated whether we
SHOULD sleep in the boat at anchor or camp
Gl Ihe beach, which we preferred doing II
~ were safe. We decided to take the risk
~ 5rieeplng ashore in spite OF the nearness
o., we had beached the boat on a rising
sllle' and now, at the beginning Of the ebb.
enc enc was atioat, held to the beach by the
dopS and heavy stone that served us for
1aple and anchor. LomWyn arose and
"euL 10 the waters edge to see If she
ngeued more rope to keep her from
sIouhd, and 1 followed him, intending
f ~ gSet our blankets from the cabin. The
t tuIl moon was peeping above the black
nd I q