Imperial Valley press., 1936-11-29


of a fish, as also the internal organs of birds
or animals are regarded by them delicacy,
eaten raw.
The great scarcity of fresh water is truly al
serious handicap in this region, and any fresh
water obtained by the natives is used only for
drinking purposes. At no time did we see these
Indians wash either themselves or their clothing,
and they were much amused at seeing us wash
our hands and faces Doubtless they
thought us just as peculiar we thought them
Indian and white man are the victims of their
own separate environments.
"A /E OBSERVED no forms of recreation or
w play among these primitive people, with
the possible exception that the children loved
to dig holes in the sand. Even hunting and fish
ing are to them just SO much hard work
Girls marry when IA or Is years of age, all
such matches being arranged by the parents
or the chief of the tribe. Marriage ceremony
does not exist here, the parents merely swap
ping girl to any man whose offer is considered
sufficiently attractive For example, young
Seri warrior desiring particular girl as his
wife may find her parents willing to grant his
request if he gives them few fish or pieces
of clothing in exchange for the young lady,
whose personal likes disikes in the matter
are not considered.
Chief Romero explained an interesting moral
code of his tribe. 1t seems that any woman
found to be untrue to her husband is killed
but any man found to be untrue to his wife is
regarded as a heroic good fellow. They bury
their dead in the ground deep enough to escape
the scavenger packs of wild dogs and coyotes I
and they never again inhabit the hut where
anyone died
~HIEF ROMERO seemed much amused
~ when we questioned him concerning the
rumored Temple of White Mems Skulls. Never
did they save any white mans skull, he said
but any white people that were killed were
stripped of their knives, guns and clothing and
the bodies were left for the buzzards and wild
dogs or coyotes.
AS for the charge of cannibalsn, Chief Ro-
nero vigorously denied that any Seri would
ever eat the flesh of Eel Yori' Ca term used by
Romero to denote any stranger to the tribe,
a white mani.
The poisoned arrows used by these Indians
are considered very dangerous, as even scratch
from one of these tips may prove fatal. The
manner in which these arrows are made poison
is quite ingenious. The lung of "hurra'
(muledeer) or other large animal is filled with
rattlesnakes, the lung then being bound tightly
at the opening, so that the snakes may not
escape. This bagfu of serpents is then beaten
with sticks, the theory being that the imprisoned
ing at the interior of the lung. When finally
there is more indication that the snakes are
alive the head ends of many arrows in
serted through the lung and there allowed to
remain for days and weeks, while the mass
decays Arrows SO poisoned for use only in
warfare, and are not used in hunting game for
food Bows used by these Indians are four or
five feet in length which is considerably larger
than bows formerly used by our redmen in
the United States
THERE today only ITO men, women and
/ children remaining of this once bloodthirsty
tribe who numbered many thousands and who
ruled this land in supreme defiance of all out
siders. Gone forever is their fighting spirit for
they seem to know that they doomed to
extinction. Disease and unsanitary living con-
dtions are gradually taking their toll of these
surviving aborigines The most "warlike" in
habitants of their villages that we encountered
the many vicious and half-starved dogs
that forever seemed to lurk and snap at our
heels.
We noticed that the Seris are now living
almost entirely on the mainland at Kino Bay,
southeast of Tiburon Island. They visit the
island only in occasional hunting or fishing ex-
petitions, in their canoes.
1t is an odd fact that San Diego, one of our
modern American cities, is only $50 miles dis
tant by air line, from Tiburon Island What a
strange contrast, with civilization separated
from ancient customs by SO few intervening
miles Truly this is a contrast between time
and distance, for when compared with our own
present-day ways of living the Ser Indians
at least a thousand years behind times Here
is the strange spectacle of isolated tribe
living in the same manner as did the Indians
who encountered by the explorer Juan
Rodriguez Cabrillo, when he landed at what is
T-I. d..