The second expedition was directed primarily toward investigation of
the Seri, and only incidentally to continuation of the researches among
the Papago. Outfitting at Tucson in October (again with the aid of Mr
Berger), the expedition proceeded southward by a route different from
those previously traversed, and carried forward a plane-table route
survey covering a considerable zone from the international boundary
at Sasabe to Rio Sonora. Descending the previously unmapped course of
Rio Bacuache, the expedition reached the Rancho de San Francisco de
Costa Rica on December 1, 1895, and, although conditions were found
unfavorable in that the Seri were on the warpath, immediately prepared
for the extension of the work into Seriland.
A preliminary trip was made into the mainland portion of the Seri
habitat, terminating at the crest of Johnson peak, the highest point
in Sierra Seri. The triangulation and topographic surveys were carried
over the territory traversed, and several points were fixed on Isla
Tiburon; but the natives, agitated by a skirmish with vaqueros on the
frontier a day or two earlier, had withdrawn to remoter parts of the
territory, and were not encountered. The party returned to Costa Rica,
a rude boat was completed, transported across the desert via Pozo
Escalante to Embarcadero Andrade, and launched in Bahia Kunkaak. The
surveys were extended to the southern portion of Sierra Seri and Isla
Tassne, and, after various difficulties and delays due to dearth of
fresh water, to gales, and to other causes, the party (enlarged for the
purpose) finally landed on Tiburon. Many Seri rancherias were found
on both sides of Bahia Kunkaak and El Infiernillo. Some of these had
been occupied almost to the hour of the visit, but the occupants had
taken flight, leaving most of their unattached possessions behind, and
were not seen, though it was evident that, like wary birds and game
animals, they kept the invaders in sight from points of vantage and
hidden lairs. The eastern scarps and foot-slopes of Sierra Kunkaak
were traversed extensively and repeatedly; its crest was crossed by Mr
Johnson with a small party at a point west of Punta Narragansett, and
the triangulation and topographic sketching were connected with the
work on the mainland and carried over practically the entire surface
of the island, being tied to the work of the Hydrographic Office about
the coasts. Then, despairing of finding the wary natives, and having
exhausted food supplies, the party returned to the mainland and thence
to Costa Rica, arriving in the evening of December 31.
The original party comprised, in addition to the leader, Mr Willard D.
Johnson, topographer; Mr J. W. Mitchell, photographer; Hugh Morris,
Papago interpreter, and José Contrares, teamster. The party engaged
in the expedition to Sierra Seri comprised the leader, Messrs Johnson
and Mitchell, Mr L. K. Thompson of Hermosillo, Don Andrés Noriega of
Costa Rica, José Contrares, and two Papago Indian guards, Miguel and
Anton, of Costa Rica. The Tiburon party was made up of the leader,
Messrs Johnson and Mitchell, S. C. Millard of Los Angeles, and Señores
Andrés Noriega and Ygnacio Lozania, together with Ruperto Alvarez,
a Yaqui Indian guard, and Miguel, Anton, Mariana, Anton Ortiz, and
Anton Castillo, Papago guards; while Hugh Norris and José Contrares,
with half a dozen Papago guards and other attachés of the rancho at
Costa Rica, maintained an intermittent supply station at Embarcadero
Andrade. Señor Encinas cooperated in the work of the expedition, part
of the time at Costa Rica and part at Molino del Encinas, his principal
hacienda in the outskirts of Hermosillo; while Mr Thompson and Dr W. J.
Lyons aided in the work, the former at both Hermosillo and Costa Rica
and the latter at Hermosillo.
The return trip from Costa Rica lay via Hermosillo, and permitted the
extension of the plane-table surveys to this longitude. While at the
city advantage was taken of the opportunity to obtain linguistic and
other data from “El General” Kolusio, a full-blood Seri retained at
the capital by the State for occasional duty as a Seri interpreter,
who was obligingly assigned to the service of the party by Señor Don
Ramón Corral, then governor of Sonora. At Hermosillo the leader of the
expedition left the main party, which then proceeded northwestward
and northward along the route followed by the 1894 expedition on the
return journey, the party comprising Mr Johnson, in charge, with
Messrs Mitchell and Millard, Hugh Norris, and José Contrares; and the
plane-table surveys were continued and combined with the route surveys
made on the outward journey.
The principal ethnologic results of both expeditions relating to
the Seri Indians are incorporated in the following pages; the data
concerning the Papago are reserved for further study. The topographic
surveys of the 1895 expedition covered a zone averaging 50 miles in
width, extending from the international boundary to somewhat beyond
Rio Sonora. Mr Johnson, by whom these surveys were executed, was on
furlough from the United States Geological Survey, and his resumption
of survey work prevented the construction of finished maps, except
that of Seriland (plate I), which forms but a small fraction of the
area surveyed. The results of the remaining, and by far the greater,
part of the topographic surveys are withheld pending completion of the
inquiries concerning the Papago Indians.
* * * * *
The geographic nomenclature found requisite in the field and in writing
is partly new and partly restored, yet conforms with general and local
custom so far as practicable; and nearly all of the new names have been
applied in commemoration of explorers or pioneers. Most of the names
pertaining to Seriland proper are incorporated in the map forming plate
I; the others (including a few minor corrections) appear in the outline
map forming figure 1, prepared after the larger sheet was printed.[2]
[2] The larger map was drawn early in 1896, and a preliminary edition
in the form of a photolithograph of the drawing was published in
the National Geographic Magazine, vol. VII, 1896. It is proper—and
historically desirable—to explain that while a considerable part of the
copy for this paper was prepared at about the same time, circumstances
prevented the completion of the manuscript and the final rectification
of the nomenclature and bibliographic references until September 1,
1900.
The following list of place-names is designed primarily to give
the meaning and raison d’être of the nomenclature; with a single
exception,[3] the names are Hispanized or Mexicanized in accordance
with local usage.
[3] Johnson peak. It is proper to say that this name was applied by the
author (and leader of the expedition) after the drawing was completed
and submitted by Mr Johnson, as a meager tribute to his excellent work
in the field and on the drawings named.
_Nomenclature of Seriland._[4]
[4] An asterisk indicates new names, an obelisk old names restored or
colloquial names adopted.
*SERILAND: Extra-vernacular name of tribe, with English
locative.
MAR DE CORTÉS (Sea of Cortés=Gulf of California): Customary
Sonoran designation, applied by Ulloa (1539) in honor of
Hernando Cortés, first discoverer of the gulf.
*PASAJE ULLOA (Ulloa passage): Generic Spanish; specific
applied in honor of Captain Francisco de Ulloa, first navigator
of the passage and the upper gulf, 1539.
*ESTRECHO ALARCON (Alarcon strait): Named in honor of Hernando
de Alarcon, second navigator of the gulf; 1540.
EL INFIERNILLO (The Little Hell): Local designation, retained
by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N. (miswritten “Estrecho
Infiernillo” on larger map).
†BOCA INFIERNO (Mouth of Hell): A colloquial local designation
(miswritten “Puerto Infierno” on larger map).
*BAHIA KUNKAAK (Kunkaak bay): Generic Spanish; specific the
vernacular name of the Seri tribe (miswritten “Tiburon bay” on
plates IV and V).
[Illustration: FIG. 1—Nomenclatural map of Seriland.]
BAHIA KINO (Kino bay): Long-standing name given in honor of
Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, an early Jesuit missionary (the
“Bahia San Juan Bautista” of various early maps); adopted in
Anglicized form by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
†BAHIA TEPOPA (Tepopa bay): Specific a corruption of Tepoka,
the extra-vernacular name of a local tribe related to the Seri;
applied in 1746 by Padre Consag, and used by most navigators
and cartographers of later dates, though it does not appear on
the charts of the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
BAHIA AGUA DULCE (Freshwater bay): Named by Lieutenant R. W.
H. Hardy, R. N., 1826; name retained (in Anglicized form) by
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N. (The name is misplaced on Hardy’s
map, but the bay is correctly located in his text, p. 293.)
†BAHIA BRUJA (Witch bay): Named (in honor of his vessel) by its
discoverer, Lieutenant Hardy, 1826.
*BAHIA ESPENCE (Spence bay): Named in honor of Pilot Tomás
Espence (Thomas Spence), second circumnavigator of the island,
who landed in the bay in 1844.
†ESTERO COCHLA (Cockle inlet): Named by Lieutenant Hardy, 1826.
*BAJIOS DE UGARTE (Ugarte shoals): Named in honor of Padre Juan
de Ugarte, first visitor to the shoals and circumnavigator of
Tiburon, 1721.
*RADA BALLENA (Whale roadstead): Named from the stranding of a
whale about 1887, an incident of much note among the Seri.
*ANCLAJE DEWEY (Dewey anchorage): Named in honor of its
discoverer, Commander (now Admiral) George Dewey, in charge of
the surveys by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N., 1873.
LAGUNA LA CRUZ (Lagoon of the Cross): Name adopted (Anglicized)
by Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.; the “Laguna de los
Cercaditos” (Lagoon of the Little Banks) of Colonel Francisco
Andrade, 1844.
ISLA TIBURON (Shark island): Name of long standing; used
alternatively with “Isla San Agustin” since the seventeenth
century, both names being apparently applied to Isla Tassne
by several writers, and also to Isla Angel de la Guarda (the
second largest island in the gulf) by Kino and others, while
the present Tiburon was regarded as a peninsula.
ISLA SAN ESTEBAN (Saint Stephen island): Name of long standing;
in consistent use since early in the seventeenth century.
*ISLA TASSNE (Pelican island): Name recast by the use of the
Seri specific in lieu of the Spanish (Alcatráz), which is too
hackneyed for distinctive use.
ISLA TURNER (Turner island): Name used (and probably applied
in honor of Rear-Admiral Thomas Turner, U. S. N.) by the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
ISLA PATOS (Duck island—i. e., Island of Ducks): Name of long
standing; adopted by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
ROCA FOCA (Seal rock): Name used (and probably applied) by the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
PEÑA BLANCA (White crag): Name used (and probably applied) by
the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA TEPOPA (Tepopa point): Named (probably corruptly) from
a local tribe related to the Seri; used by the Hydrographic
Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA SARGENT (Sargent point): Name applied by Lieutenant Hardy
in 1826 to what is now known as Punta Tepopa; adopted for the
minor point by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
*PUNTA PERLA (Pearl point): Name applied in commemoration of
the traditional pearl fisheries of the vicinity.
*PUNTA ARENA (Sand point): A descriptive designation.
*PUNTA TORTUGA (Turtle point): Name applied in recognition of
the extensive turtle fisheries of the Seri in the vicinity.
*PUNTA TORMENTA (Hurricane point): Name applied in recognition
of the nearly continuous gales and tide-rips by which
navigation is rendered hazardous, and by which the long
sand-spit has been built.
PUNTA MIGUEL (Miguel point): Recast from “San Miguel point”,
partly through association with the name of a Papago guard
accompanying the expedition of 1895; in the old form the name
is of long standing, was probably applied by Escalante in 1700,
and was adopted by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N., 1873.
*PUNTA GRANITA (Granite point): A descriptive designation.
*PUNTA BLANCA (White point): A descriptive designation.
*PUNTA NARRAGANSETT (Narragansett point): Specific (of
Algonquian Indian derivation) applied in commemoration of the
vessel employed in the surveys by the Hydrographic Office, U.
S. N., in 1873, the point being that at which the commander of
the _Narragansett_ located the principal Seri rancheria of that
time and made observations on the tribe.
*PUNTA YGNACIO (Ygnacio point): Specific applied in honor of
Don Ygnacio Lozania, a trusted aid in the 1895 expedition,
who had visited this point in connection with the Andrade
expedition of 1844; described as “Dark bluff” on charts of the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
*PUNTA ANTIGUALLA (Antiquity point—i. e., Point of
Antiquities): Name applied in recognition of a great
shell-mound which has retarded the transgression of the sea and
produced the point.
PUNTA KINO (Kino point): Name of long standing; specific in
honor of the early missionary; used by the Hydrographic Office,
U. S. N.
*PUNTA MASHÉM (Mashém point): Specific in honor of the Seri
chief Mashém (sometimes called Francisco Estorga or Juan
Estorga), who speaks Spanish and acted as Seri-Spanish
interpreter in 1894.
PUNTA MONUMENTA (Monument point): Named by the Hydrographic
Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA COLORADA (Red point): Recast from the “Red Bluff point”
of the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
PUNTA WILLARD (Willard point): Origin of name unknown; used by
the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.
*EMBARCADERO ANDRADE (Andrade landing): Named in memory of the
embarcation for Tiburon of Colonel Francisco Andrade, 1844.
*CAMPO NAVIDAD (Christmas camp): Named in memory of a camp
occupied December 24-26 by the expedition of 1895.
*SIERRA SERI (Seri range): Generic Spanish, specific the
extra-vernacular tribe name.
*SIERRA KUNKAAK (Kunkaak range): Specific the vernacular tribe
name.
*SIERRA MENOR (Minor range): A descriptive designation.
*CERROS ANACORETOS (Anchorite hills): A designation suggested
to Topographer Johnson by the solitary series of spurs rising
singly or in scattered groups from the sheetflood-carved desert
plain.
*JOHNSON PEAK: Name applied in commemoration of the first and
only ascent of the peak, and of its occupation as a survey
station, December 7 and 8, 1895, by Willard D. Johnson,
accompanied by John Walter Mitchell and Miguel (Papago Indian).
*DESIERTO ENCINAS (Encinas desert): Generic Spanish, specific
in honor of the intrepid settler on the outskirts of the
desert, Señor Pascual Encinas.
*PLAYA NORIEGA (Noriega playa): Generic Spanish, specific in
honor of Don Andrés Noriega, kinsman of Señora Anita Encinas,
a resident on the outskirts of the desert, and the leading
Mexican aid in the expedition of 1895.
*ARENALES DE GIL (Gil sandbanks): Generic Spanish, specific in
honor of Fray Juan Crisóstomo Gil de Bernabe, sole missionary
to Seriland, massacred at this point in 1773.
*RIO SONORA (Sonora river): Generic Spanish, specific a long
standing and originally colloquial corruption of Señora, a
designation said to have been applied by Spanish pioneers
to a hospitable native chieftainess; afterwards apparently
fixed through the name of an early mining camp and garrison
and perhaps by similarity to a local aboriginal (Opata) term
connoting maize, i. e., _sonot_.
RIO BACUACHE (Bacuache river): Name of long standing; specific
doubtless from the Opata term _bacot_, “snake”, with a locative
termination, i. e., “Snake place”.
†ARROYO CARRIZAL (Reedy arroyo): Generic and specific Spanish;
colloquial designation used by the Seri chief Mashém in
describing the island; a traditional name of long standing.
†ARROYO AGUA DULCE (Freshwater arroyo): A traditional name like
the former, also used by Mashém.
*ARROYO MILLARD (Millard arroyo): Named in memory of S. C.
Millard, aid and interpreter in the expedition of 1895 (died
1897).
*ARROYO MARIANA (Mariana arroyo): Named in honor of Mariana
(Papago Indian), a guard accompanying the 1895 expedition, who
had once approached this arroyo on a hunting expedition.
*ARROYO MITCHELL (Mitchell arroyo): Named in honor of John
Walter Mitchell, photographer of the 1895 expedition.
†POZO ESCALANTE (Escalante well): Generic Spanish, specific
in honor of Sergeant Juan Bautista de Escalante, the first
Caucasian to cross El Infiernillo (in 1700), who is reputed to
have dug the shallow well still existing; the name has been
retained ever since alternatively with “Agua Amarilla” (Yellow
water); doubtless the “Carrizal” of certain early maps; the
site of the only mission ever established in Seriland, and of
the massacre of Fray Crisóstomo Gil in 1773.
*POZO HARDY (Hardy well): Named in honor of Lieutenant R. W. H.
Hardy, R. N., second known Caucasian visitor to the spot, 1826.
*AGUAJE ANTON (Anton water, or water-hole): Generic a common
Mexican term; specific applied in memory of Anton (Papago
Indian), a guard and visitor to the spot in the expedition of
1895.
*AGUAJE PARILLA (Parilla water): A traditional water (not found
by the expedition of 1895) named in memory of Colonel Diego
Ortiz Parilla, the vaunted destroyer of the Seri in 1749, whose
imposing expedition may have reached this point.
*BARRANCA SALINA (Saline gorge): Generic colloquial Mexican,
specific denoting the character of the practically permanent
water; the designation applied by Mexican vaqueros and Papago
hunters, who occasionally visit the locality.
*TINAJA ANITA (Anita basin): Generic a useful Mexican term for
a water-pocket, or rock basin containing water supplied by
storms or seepage; specific a tribute to Anita Newcomb McGee,
M. D., Actg. Asst. Surg. U. S. A.; perhaps the “Aguaje de
Andrade” of 1844.
*TINAJA TRINCHERA (Entrenched basin): Specific a common Mexican
term for the ancient entrenchments found on many mountains of
Papagueria; applied in recognition of a few low, loose-laid
stone walls about the tinaja, the only structures of the kind
known in Seriland.
RANCHO SAN FRANCISCO DE COSTA RICA: Name applied by the
founder, Señor Pascual Encinas, about 1850.
RANCHO SANTA ANA: Name applied by the founder, Señor Encinas,
about 1870.
RANCHO LIBERTAD: Name applied by the founder, Señor Encinas,
about 1875.
The fairly full geographic nomenclature of Seriland merely expresses
the necessity for place-names, felt in some measure by all intelligent
beings, and realized especially by explorers and describers of the
region. Excepting the ranchos and perhaps Pozo Escalante, they denote
natural features only, and, with the same exceptions, the features are
seen but rarely or from great distances by enlightened men. Despite
the wealth of place-names and the strongly accentuated configuration
which the nomenclature expresses, Seriland is one of the most hopeless
deserts of the American hemisphere.