Still later, in collecting linguistic material through the
Seri interpreter with the assistance of Señor Alvemar-Leon, I
recurred to the subject incidentally (or at least ostensibly
so) on two or three occasions, partly with the view of
verifying or disproving the current report that the men were
eaten by the Indians; and since the first distrust on the part
of the interpreter and the companions (by whom he was commonly
surrounded) had worn off, the questions were answered freely
and with apparent truth. In brief, the information gained in
this way was a repetition in general terms of the statement of
the killing of both men; but the responses indicated (1) that
the Indians are not cannibals, (2) that they do not eat any
portion or portions of the body of an enemy slain in war, (3)
that they do not eat human flesh in a sacrificial way, and (4),
specifically, that they did not eat the flesh of the two white
men killed last spring. I am disposed to give credence to all
of these statements.
Señor Encinas informed me that for a long time after the
reputed killing of the two Americans on the island the Seri
were exceptionally shy and were seldom seen on the mainland;
that the first representatives of the tribe to appear were one
or two old women who came to his rancho with much trepidation;
that these representatives being not ill-treated, a man
appeared, who was also well treated, and that still later other
members of the tribe appeared, though it was only a few days
before our visit that any considerable body of the Seri Indians
showed themselves at their favorite mainland haunt on his
rancho. It was his first communication with the Indians since
the killing, and, both he and they agreed, the first confession
of the crime outside of their own tribe.
While in Sonora various conflicting accounts of the affair were
given me. One, to which I was disposed to attach credence by
reason of the character of my informant and his explanation of
the circumstances under which the information was gained, was
given me (just before the visit referred to above) by ex-Consul
Forbes, of Guaymas. This account corresponds in all essential
details with that conveyed to my party by the Indians, except
that, according to Mr Forbes’ account, the survivors were
altogether unarmed after the borrowing of the rifle by the
Indians, and that when the man in the boat arose suddenly and
shouted he pointed at the Indians not a gun but a stick, in the
hope of deceiving them thereby, as he was fortunate enough to
do.
It may be added that the Seri Indians are at the same time the
most primitive and the most bloodthirsty and treacherous of
the Indians of North America, so far as my knowledge extends;
also that their character is well known throughout Sonora, and
indeed generally throughout Mexico, Arizona, and the southern
part of California. I was assured by the acting governor of
Sonora and by the prefect of Hermosillo that it would be little
short of suicide for even a Mexican official to visit these
Indians or land on their island without an armed guard. Through
conference with the Indians, also, I learned that any white
man, Mexican, or Indian of another tribe coming in contact with
them is killed without the slightest compunction, unless they
are restrained by fear. Accordingly I am satisfied that the
character of the Seri Indians is quite as bad as the unsavory
reputation they have acquired throughout the Southwest.
It should be observed that while the Indians were unable to
give the names of the men killed, their description of men and
vessel agreed exactly with those of the newspaper correspondent
Robinson and his companion, and with the sloop Examiner; and Mr
Forbes’ information was obtained direct from the survivors of
the expedition of which Mr Robinson had charge. There can thus
be no doubt that it was Mr Robinson and his companion who were
killed by these Indians, and whose killing was confessed by
them, as set forth above.
With great respect, your obedient servant,
W J MCGEE,
_Ethnologist in charge._
Honorable S. P. LANGLEY,
_Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution._
On first learning of the incident, months before the diplomatic
correspondence began, the state and federal authorities promptly
adopted vigorous punitive measures. A vessel carrying a force of
federal troops was dispatched from Guaymas and a body of state troops
were sent from Hermosillo with instructions to meet on the coast
and capture the criminals at any cost, even to the extermination of
the tribe if resistance was offered. But like so many others, the
expedition failed; the horses of the land party were stalled in the
sands and burrow-riddled plains, the vessel was harassed by storms and
tidal currents, and the landing boats were swamped by the surf, while
the Indians merely fled at sight of the invaders toward inaccessible
lairs or remote parts of their territory; and when the water was gone
and men and animals were at point of famishing, the forces retired
without so much as seeing a single Seri.
During the ensuing autumn the tribe, having quenched their blood-feud
in alien blood, turned toward peace, and sent a matron of the Turtle
clan, known as Juana Maria, to Costa Rica—i. e., Rancho de San
Francisco de Costa Rica—where she was gradually followed by younger
matrons and children, then by youths, and finally by warriors (after
the fashion of Seri diplomacy) to the aggregate number of about
sixty. Here they were found by the first expedition of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, in November, 1894; and here, under the still strong
influence of the venerable Don Pascual, supplemented by small gifts and
persistent pressure, they gradually “gave their language”, submitted
to extensive photographing, confessed specifically to the Robinson
killing, and yielded up nearly the whole of their portable possessions
in the way of domestic implements and utensils, face-painting material,
pelican-skin robes, snake-skin necklaces, etc.
With the return of the Bureau party to Hermosillo the Indians became
restive and soon withdrew beyond the desert. In the course of the
ensuing winter a group returned to the neighborhood of Costa Rica,
where, by aid of strategy, seven warriors (including some of those
seen at the rancho in the preceding November) with the families of
four, were arrested, taken to Hermosillo, tried, and, according to
oral accounts, banished. Irritated by this action, and connecting with
it the visit of Don Pascual and the strangers desiring their language
and sacred things, the clans resumed the warpath, displaying special
animosity toward the residents of Costa Rica. There were a few minor
skirmishes; then, at the instance of the state officials, a number of
Papago Indians, who are feared by the Seri beyond all other enemies,
were domiciled at the rancho, where their mere presence proved a
sufficient protection. Meantime, according to apparently trustworthy
press accounts, two small exploring parties entered Seriland; the first
consisted of seven prospectors, who kept well together until about
to leave the territory, when one of their number fell behind—and his
companions saw him no more, though they carefully retraced their trail
beyond the point at which he had stopped; the other was a German
naturalist-prospector with two mozos (servant-companions), purporting
to hail from Chihuahua, who started across the delta-plain of Rio
Bacuache and Desierto Encinas with saddle animals, and never reappeared.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY