[Illustration: EASTERN SHORE OF TIBURON BAY]
4. The seas washing Seriland are notably troubled by tides and winds.
Gaping toward the Pacific, and narrowing and shoaling for the 800 miles
of its length (measured from midway between Islas de Tres Marias and
Cabo San Lucas), Gulf of California approaches Bay of Fundy, Bristol
channel, and Broad sound as a tide accumulator; while the semidiurnal
sweep of the waters in the upper half of the gulf is conditioned by the
constriction of the basin to a fraction of its average cross-section at
the narrows between Isla Tiburon and Punta San Francisquito. Toward the
head of the gulf the ordinary spring tides range from 20 to 25 feet,
and may be much increased by favoring winds; the debacles culminate
there, but the currents culminate off Seriland in the great tide-gate
half dammed by the islands of Tiburon, San Esteban, San Lorenzo, and
Salsipuedes,[14] with their marine buttresses, and through the breaches
of Pasaje Ulloa, Estrecho Alarcon, and Canal de Salsipuedes flow, four
times daily, some two or three cubic miles of water in tremendous tidal
floods, probably unsurpassed in vigor elsewhere on the globe. Naturally
the islands and the adjacent coasts afford extraordinary examples of
marine transgression; and while exceptional wave-work is a factor, the
transgression is undoubtedly due mainly to the extraordinary tidal
currents in this gateway of the gulf. The fierce currents and the
frequent storms of the region condition local navigation, and have
undoubtedly contributed to the development of the peculiarly light,
strong, and serviceable water-craft of the aboriginal navigators among
the islands.
[14] Originally the name Islas Sal-si-puedes (Get-out-if-canst) was
applied to the various islands of this gateway of the gulf, including
San Lorenzo, San Esteban, and San Agustin (now Tiburon), together with
the smaller islets, as shown in the map of Padre Fernando Consag (in
Noticia de la California y de su Conquista, etc., por el Padre Miguel
Venegas, 1757, tomo III, p. 194); and Padre Consag’s account of the
currents encountered in 1746 explains the designation: “The great sea
which runs here even in fair weather would not allow us to stay, and it
was with great difficulty we took in a little water. We now attempted
to weather the Cape of San Gabriel de Sal-si-puedes, so greatly dreaded
by seamen on account of those islands, several contiguous points of
land and many ledges of sunken rocks extending a great way from the
land. Here the sea is so agitated by the current that a gale or a calm
makes but little difference” (English translation of Venegas’ Noticia,
titled A Natural and Civil History of California, 1759, vol. II, pp.
312-313). Hittell speaks of “the group of islands known as Salsipuedes,
the largest of which is now called Tiburon” (History of California,
1898, vol. I, p. 225). Dewey restricted the name to a single small
island near the Baja California coast. Further references to the
islands and their designations are noted postea, p. 65.
El Infiernillo derives its distinctive characteristics largely from
the local character of the tides. Bahia Kunkaak is a funnel-shape
embayment so placed as to catch half the volume of the incoming tide
and to concentrate the flow into a bore hurtling through Boca Infierno
and thence throughout the shoaling strait with greatly accelerated
velocity; meantime the body of the tidal stream is diverted around
Tiburon, and then enfeebled in its northward flow by the expansion
of the gulf above the Tiburon-San Francisquito gateway, so that the
entire strait is flooded (to the limit fixed by the capacity of Boca
Infierno) before the main tide flows into its head past Isla Patos and
through Bahia Tepopa; and with this unobstructed inflow the strait
is reflooded with a counterbore, whereby the waters are heaped and
pounded into an unstable, swirling, churning mass.[15] The flooding
is little less than catastrophic in magnitude and suddenness; indeed,
the volume of water in the body of the strait between Punta Perla and
Boca Infierno is approximately doubled at neap tide and tripled at
spring tide twice in each twenty-four hours. Then, as the crest of the
main debacle advances into the upper gulf beyond Punta Tepopa, the
trough of the ebb is already approaching the Tiburon-San Francisquito
constriction; and even before the final flooding of El Infiernillo from
the north is completed, the waters of Bahia Kunkaak are receding and a
tiderip is tearing through Boca Infierno at a rate sufficient to half
empty the reservoir of its accumulated volume before the ebb trough
has rounded the island to the head of the strait. Thus the effect
of the exceptional tides of the gulf and the peculiar configuration
of Seriland is to concentrate and accentuate tidal currents in El
Infiernillo, and to convert the channel into a raceway for nearly
continuous tide rips. According to Dewey, the spring tides are 10 feet
and the neaps 7 feet about the northern end of the strait;[16] in
December, 1895, the tides about Punta Blanca and Punta Granita were
roughly determined as 13 or 14 feet at spring and 7 or 8 at neap, the
range varying considerably with the direction and force of the wind;
and the consequent current through Boca Infierno was estimated at 4
to 8 miles per hour, the higher velocity of course coinciding with
the spring tide. The change in direction of the current is almost
instantaneous—indeed, the run is in opposite directions on opposite
sides of the narrow strait when the wind sets obliquely—so that the
tidal flow is practically continuous. The currents are of course
slacker in the body of the strait, but even here suffice to transport
coarse sediments; and it is to this agency that the “shoals and sand
spits” noted by Dewey[17] and the maintenance of a deep channel through
Boca Infierno are chiefly to be ascribed. The materials of Punta
Tormenta and Punta Tortuga attest the transportation of pebbles up
to 3 or 4 inches in diameter by the combined work of waves and tidal
currents.
[15] Unquestionably the clearest view of El Infiernillo ever enjoyed
by Caucasian eyes was that of Messrs Johnson and Mitchell from the
culminating point of Sierra Seri (Johnson peak), which they occupied
for about twenty-three hours on December 7 and 8, 1895. Mr Johnson’s
notes on the appearance of the strait are as follows: “On the occasion
of the ascent of Sierra Seri, which rises from the coast, shutting
off the view of Isla Tiburon from the desert on the east, I received
a striking impression of the elaborate and beautifully symmetrical
plan of the long swirling currents of El Infiernillo. The climb had
been made from the east direct to the summit peak, so that the first
sight of both island and gulf was not only from close at hand, but
from an elevation of about a mile. The crest of the ridge was reached
at the instant of sunset, and the spectacle of the innumerable
current-markings was brief. Our position was nearly opposite the
northern end of the strait; and its elevation was so great that the
opposite mainland and island shorelines were seen in map effect rather
than in perspective. The entire strait, to its northern end at Punta
Perla, was in the shadow of the island; and the current design was
revealed only in the shadow. At the shadow-margin extending from the
northern tip of the island the lines were sharply cut off; and beyond,
along the westward bend of waters forming Bahia Tepopa and opening into
the gulf in full sunlight, there was no suggestion of them. Within the
shadow the effect was that of a film of oil on a water-surface which
had been stirred and allowed to come to rest—though the regularity
of the lines was as though the stirring had been orderly. Not the
slightest motion was perceptible from the peak during the minute or
two that the spectacle lasted before the sun disappeared and twilight
fell, though the suggestion from configuration alone was that of
violent swirling. The general movement was evidently southward toward
Boca Infierno, and the swirls were apparently the result of frictional
resistance along both shores; the system of curving lines as a whole
was very much that which would be presented by a broad feather thrust
into a bottle. There were central lines in great number, somewhat
sinuous though never crossing, diverging one by one toward the shores
on either hand, where they curved backward with complex interferences
in large reversing arcs and many minute circlings. The straightening
out of the curves in perspective was quite perceptible toward Boca
Infierno, and beyond it was pronounced. The air appeared to be still,
so that the current pattern was not at all obscured by waves; and the
spectacle of the broad strait, appearing almost beneath me, incised
with a crowded design of sweeping fine lines, the delicate clearness
of which recalled a steel engraving, was peculiarly impressive.
That we had been fortunate in the moment of reaching the summit was
apparent next day. The spectacle was, indeed, repeated at sunrise
and for a short period thereafter, though the general design was
markedly different, and less intricacy of pattern was discernible,
while the general effect was comparatively vague; perhaps the shadow
of Sierra Seri was too heavy, or, more probably (as was my impression
at the time), our position was not favorable for that direction of
illumination. In full light during the day up to the hour of our
departure in late afternoon, no hint or vestige of the current design
remained. It was evident that the lines were brought out with especial
clearness by the favorable illumination and comparative stillness of
air; and it was particularly evident that the lines marked movements in
the water, even if there were corresponding air-currents, since they
harmonized perfectly with the configuration of the shores and with
the trend of spits and bars and offshore markings seen through the
shallow waters, especially toward the northern end of the strait. The
accord between shore curves and the current lines seen in the evening
indicated a southward motion much more vigorous than the reverse
movement witnessed next morning; for the marked variation in the design
noted in the morning was of a character strongly suggesting a reversed
movement of the water, while the faintness of the markings then may
perhaps have been due to comparative feebleness of current rather than
to unfavorable lighting. Certainly the close agreement between the
elaborate system of markings, so clearly revealed in the evening, and
the prevailing curves of the shores would seem to indicate unmistakably
that, whatever the direction and strength of flow, the markings were a
product of current motion.”
[16] Publication No. 56, U. S. Hydrographic Office, Bureau of
Navigation, 1880, p. 142.
[17] Op. cit., p. 143.
Like other mountain-bound water bodies, the portion of the gulf washing
Seriland is exceptionally disturbed by winds of given velocity by
reason of the high angle of incidence; and moreover the exceptionally
prominent local configuration disturbs the atmospheric currents in
a manner somewhat analogous to that in which the tidal currents are
disturbed; so that the winds are highly variable but generally strong.
Under the combined action of tide and wind the waters are normally
ruffled; choppy seas freely flecked with whitecaps are rather the rule
than the exception,[18] and are replaced less frequently by calms
than by steadier billows breaking in continuous surf on sand-beaches
(figure 5) and dashing into foam-flecked and rainbow-tinted spray-jets,
bathing the rocky cliffs for 50 feet above their bases. Sometimes
the wind stills suddenly, when the sea sinks to rhythmic swells,
soon extinguished by reaction from the irregular shores and by the
interference of tide-currents; but the swell seldom dies away before
the gale springs again. The broad valley between Sierras Seri and
Kunkaak, bottomed by El Infiernillo, is especially beset by fierce
and capricious gales; the general atmospheric drift is disturbed by
the leading and lesser sierras, as well as by temperature convection
from the gulf, and eddies are developed in such wise as to send
air-currents directly or obliquely up or down the valley. These local
or sublocal winds are characteristic. Judging from observations
covering several weeks, the valley is wind-swept longitudinally for
an average of eighteen or twenty hours daily, the winds ranging from
strong breezes to gales so stiff as to load the air with sand ashore
and spray asea; and even the calms may be broken any minute by sudden
gusts and williwaws, passing rapidly as they arrive. Not only waves
but wind itself combines with tides to shape the structural features
of the valley; nowhere within it do flour-fine sands like those of
Desierto Encinas occur, save as a hardly perceptible constituent of the
dunes and banks of coarser sand—they have been blown into the sea or
beyond the limits of the valley. Throughout the strait so expressively
named by its explorers, the capriciousness of the sea culminates,
despite the shoalness and the protection from easterly and westerly
winds; the storm currents and tide-currents are half the time opposed,
raising breakers even when the air is nearly still; eddies and whirls
and cross-currents arise constantly, and even at the stillest hours
tumultuous waves come and go sporadically, while about the mile-wide
boca the choppy sea sometimes takes the form of spire-like jets,
spurting 5 or 10 feet high and breaking into aigrettes of glittering
spray in most unwaterlike and wholly indescribable fashion. Dewey
described the strait as “unsafe for navigation by any except the
smallest class of vessels”; it is safe, indeed, only for portable and
indestructible craft like the Seri balsas, which may be put off or
carried ashore at will by craftsmen willing to wait for wind and tide,
and unpossessed of impedimenta of a sort to be injured by wetting. Of
such an environment the balsa is a natural product.
[18] A stiller and navigable condition of the sea is shown in the view
of Punta Ygnacio, plate IV.
[Illustration: FIG. 5—Embarking on Bahia Kunkaak in la lancha _Anita_.]
The adjunct islets of Seriland are miniatures of Tiburon in all
essential respects, save that they are without fresh water. The largest
is San Esteban, a somewhat complex butte rising sharply from the waters
in a nearly continuous sea-cliff recording vigorous work by storms and
tides; it is occasionally visited by the Seri, chiefly in search of
water-fowl and eggs. The most important of the series in Seri economy
and mythology is Isla Tassne, off the mouth of Bahia Kino; it is a
rugged butte some 600 feet high, rising in wave-cut cliffs on the sea
side and pedimented by low spits and banks of sand toward the lea;
the sand-banks are literally flocked with pelicans, while other fowl
cover the flatter ledges and crowd the crannies of the pinnacle. Isla
Turner is a somewhat smaller and still more rugged butte, bounded on
both sides by precipitous cliffs, while Roca Foca is merely a great
rock shelving upward from the storm-swept waters off the most exposed
angle of Tiburon; in the crannies of the former birds nest abundantly,
while the lower ledges of both are haunted by seals. Isla Patos, north
of Tiburon, is a breeding-place for different water-fowl, and is
especially noted as a refuge for ducks; it, too, is for the most part a
rocky butte, with a sandy shelf at the eastern base. Beyond San Esteban
lies the similar but smaller Isla San Lorenzo, while Isla Salsipuedes
and a few other islets stretch thence northward half way to the
southern point of Isla Angel de la Guarda, the second-largest island of
the gulf. San Lorenzo and the smaller islets are occasionally visited
by the Seri, partly for a mineral pigment used in face-painting,
partly in quest of game; and they sometimes push on to the larger
island to enjoy its fairly abundant game, including the easily taken
iguana, amid the ruins of an ancient culture apparently akin to that
of southern Mexico. Even the most frequented islets, Tassne and Patos,
can be reached only by crossing miles of open sea; but in their way the
Seri are as canny navigators as they are skilful boat-builders—it is
their habit to hug the shore in threatening weather, to await wind and
tide for hours or days together, to set out on distant journeys only
when all conditions favor, and in emergency to seize inspiration from
the storm like the vikings of old, and bend supernormal power to the
control of their craft.
* * * * *
Summarily, the prevailing features of Seriland may be said to be
characterized by extreme development or intensity, many of them being
of such sort as to be adequately described only by the aid of strong
comparatives or superlatives. Seriland is the most rugged portion of
piedmont Sonora, and is bounded by its most forbidding desert; the
territory is nearly if not quite, the most arid and inhospitable of
the Sonoran province; the diurnal and sporadic temperature-ranges
are apparently the widest, and the gales and other storms apparently
the severest of the entire province; the flora is among the most
meager and least fruitful, and the mountains are among the craggiest
of the continent; the tides are among the strongest and the tidal
currents among the swiftest of the world; and, as shown by the limited
direct observations and by the extraordinary marine transgression,
the waters are among the most turbulent known. At the same time, the
waters washing Seriland are among the richest of America in sea-food,
so that the habitat is one of the easiest known for a simple life
depending directly on the product of the sea. It is but natural that
these extreme factors of environment should be measurably reflected in
pronounced characteristics on the part of the inhabitants.