The age-herald., 1898-01-07
SAVAGES AT OUR DOORS.
Of Whose Existence Most Americans Are Totally
 Ignorant-They Occupy Seriland.

From the Philadelphia Times.
 The expedition sent out by the Mexican government to Seriland to discover the fate of a party of explorers who went to the Island of Tiburon and never returned, brings into public attention a tribe of sav- ages at our very doors, of which most Americans are in total ignorance. The tribe is one of the most bloodthirsty in the world, while their land has been the scene of many attempts to explore, but so far almost every one who set foot in its hills has met hostile reception and all expedi- tions against these Indians have met noth- ing but disappointment and defeat. Per haps there is no man who knows more about these strange, unconquerable people than Prof W. J. McGee, one of the leading lights of the bureau of ethnology for he is one of the few persons who has made any attempt to penetrate the country with any success and returned to tell the tale.
 Prof. McGee hasm ade two trips to this country, the first one some years ago, whe country, the first one some years ago, when he spent at least week among the Indians, and the last about two years ago, when, as the tribe was the warpath, he was unable to get sight of them. He has made a thorough study of the natives, the topography of the country and their cruelty, strange customs and modes of fighting are to him a familiar subject.
 "This country known as Seriland," Prof McGee remarked to a correspondent. though 1t lies at the very edge of our civilization, is what we might term an al- most impenetrable district inhabited bv one of the fiercest of Indian tribes and made by nature a spot in which no white man can safely live. It is a kind of an oasis of barbarian equal to that of darkest Africa, yet surrounded by two enlightened modern nations of the white race. Com paratively little is known of the country or its natives from the fact that most explor- CTS meet death and the nature of the land Is such tha tribe of barbarians could hold 1t for any length of time against the best disciplined troops of the world
 Tn looking on the map of Mexico you will notice where the district of Sonora, on the western coast, reaches down to the waters of the Gulf of California Seriland proper comprises large island known as Tiburon, lying off the coast and comprising about five hundred square miles, The land Is one of the most uninviting in the world and consists of rough mountains without vegetation and arid plains on which not a drop of water is to be found. The difficulty in subduing these natives is as great, in fact greater, than our govern ment found in conquering the most savage of our Indian tribes in the west. And though any number of expeditions have been sent against them not a single party have ever made a capture or secured any result except fatality to themselves. This failure may be accounted for by the ex- treme aridity of the country combined with the ruggedness of the mountainous DOT tion, the lightness and depth of the cease ilessly shifting sands, the want of food for cattle, the dense thorny thickets of chap arral, through which no one but native can penetrate, and the honeycombing of ground by counteless squirrels, which make 1t dangerous to use 0 horse at all for fear of breaking the beasts limbs Yet these natives are so accustomed to the discomforts of the terrible region that they thrive there and can live safely in sight of an enemy without fear of the latter.
 "For three hundred years the fight against these people has gone on, but they are as wild, as cruel, as untamable as ever and their greatest virtue Is to slay a for eign foe. In the last two centuries their number has decreased from three thous- and to three hundred, yet no one can be found to penetrate the mountain fastnesses in which their island huts are hidden. These people are said to be cannibalistic but the assertion do not regard as an assured fact.
 "They are tribe of fine physique both the men and women being finely formed and capable of great endurance. Their skin is dark and hair long and tawny. For homes they build rough structure of hNshes and turtle shells, their dress is short skirt of pelican skin, fastened about