Less than three thousand miles from the city of New York,
and about a third of that distance from San Francisco, there
is situated, in the upper reaches of the Gulf of California,
a small island, worthless even for so mean a purpose as the
raising of goats, but nevertheless a center of attraction for
the ethnologists and archeologists of the Old and New Worlds for
many generations. This rock peak, rising from the quiet waters
of the gulf, is known as Tiburon Island. Tiburon is a Spanish
word which, translated into English means “shark.” The waters
around the islet are literally swarming with these tigers of the
sea, and the inhabitants of the island are said to be no less
ferocious than the sharks. Tiburon is peopled with a handful of
Indians, the only aborigines of their kind in the world, known
as Seris. They are reputed to be cannibals, to be so fierce that
none of the mainland tribes of Mexican redskins ever dare invade
their shores, and to possess the secret of manufacture of a
peculiarly deadly poison, with which they prepare their arrows
before battle.--_Wide World Magazine._
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